Catch Up

It's been a while...but rest assured we've been having a super time at the sensory smart home.  We've been scientists (baking soda/vinegar),

we've refilled the sensory table,

 

we've explored our surroundings,

we've crunched some fall leaves during our walks around town,

we've seen and soaked up the last smidgen of fall (72 this morning when we played sand/water...and under 40* now!),

we've experimented painting with our hands,

 and with paintbrushes!

It's been a busy few weeks and we keep our days hopping and our nights restful!

Xavier's fully potty trained.  He hasn't had an accident in several days.  We're very proud of him!

  Of course he did this transition almost completely on his own directly after Mike and I decided to switch to cloth diapers and placed our big order, that was actually VERY affordable (like WHY didn't we do this a long time ago!?).  They came the other day...I'm a little sad to pack them away for "next time." {aren't they pretty?} but my little cutie's tushie looks pretty darling in his unders!

Xavier's learning his colors, knows that his name starts with X, and is completely in love with his new shirts from Nannie that have wheelers and motorcycles on them.  He loves to see how things work and makes quite an apprentice for his dad.

 His hair is curly, his eyes are wild, he's 100% boy, and totally a hoot!

 

Natalee's losing the last of her babyhood and becoming fully a "big girl/preschooler."  She can be quite the helper when she puts her mind to it.  

 She delights in saying, "we don't go to school, we do homeschool!" and I can't fill her hours with enough learning.  

 She knows all her letters and is picking up the sounds as we go back through the alphabet and do a letter a week.  Her imagination is growing and it's fun to watch her try new things.

She's excelling at Bible memory verses and is inspiring her brother to do the same!  She loves numbers and counting and is planning a BIG birthday party all themed around letters and a purple cake!  I'll be ordering natural food dye online to make her dream a reality.  

She's working hard on using her words instead of her reaction screams.  We still go to Memphis for OT, PT, and Speech and we are delighting in the growth we see from her therapies.  We are so grateful for the family based approach the therapists take with us by allowing us to stay in her sessions and see how they are helping her along and teaching us what we can do at home.

Natalee used her memory very from Joshua 1:7 (be strong and very brave!) to conquer a big fear and get her hair trimmed last week.  The stylist was terrific and Natalee did great!

Natalee is spunk and sugar. She wears her heart on her sleeve...she loves fiercely and fights just as fiercely.  She's making great strides and we couldn't be more proud of her.

 We've survived a whole week of daddy being gone, although this is what my bed looked like the first night.

 As for me, I'm chugging along.  It's an adjustment to only have little people to talk to during the day but I'm hanging in there.  I'm truly enjoying being HOME and spending all the little moments of life with my children.  We have a great group of "friends" to fill our days and keep my children from feeling stale with only one another.  As much as they dearly love their friends I do see that they enjoy the peaceful moments in the evenings with just mom, dad, and each other.

I love that I have the time during the day to do a load of laundry or two, keep the dishes caught up,  have a supper plan, and feed my husband a real breakfast in the morning (and me, too!).  I'm working to find a few minutes a day that are soley "mine" and am learning to find them in the little things...like yesterday when I was able to rearrange my herbals/medicine/first aid cabinet...it was work, but it was "for me" and I delight in the organized, end result.  Nap time has been a good time for me to catch up on emails, do little things like this cabinet...and also keep up laundry, etc. (is it ever "caught up?")

We're loving life, each other, and being home.  

Shaving Cream and Clean Hearts!

A picture is worth a thousand words so I'll just leave you with the following photos and a brief description of our fun.  We were having a laid back Friday and had already played outside for almost 2 hours...the kids were behaving excellently so on a whim I grabbed the shaving cream and the preschool table and let them at it.  

I have a love/hate relationship with shaving cream...there is no real "natural" version and most have some kinda yucky ingredients in them.  However, I haven't found anything that offers a sensory experience equivalent to that of shaving cream.  So, it's something we don't do very often, but when we do we go ALL out.  

I had no rules regarding this activity...if you want to fill your hands with cream and then clap - go ahead.  If you want to lay on the table - go ahead.  If you want to paint your arms - go ahead.  They had a blast.  They played for a very long time.

   

We ended the shaving cream activity with the garden hose...I washed everyone's clothes while they wore clean unders and t-shirts during lunch & nap.  I'd say the extra load of laundry or two was well worth it! 

I have a friend and mentor who has told me often that dirty and messy little children on the outside are much better than dirty and messy little children in the heart and mind.  I totally get her point.  I'm trying to live by those very wise words and embrace the messy "outsides" in exchange for innocent and clean "insides."  

Have a beautiful week!

Just...Blessed...

Sometimes I look around and realize that these moments of cuteness and love are my "normal."  How incredibly, incredibly blessed I am.  Blessed to be able to stick to a food, supplement, and love plan that *mostly* works for both kids, especially my girl.  Blessed to be home with my babies everyday.  Blessed with a husband who sees the worth of all of this.

Blessed....double time.

Genesis 5:1 {Multi-Sensory Bible Memorization}

We are working diligently on Genesis 5:1 over at the Joyful Jamboree!  Here are my 2 monkeys showing you what they know.  Natalee's got it down pat.  Xavier's doing mighty fine for a 2 year old.  Hand motions with a Bible verse are pure genius and a *must* for multi-sensory learners!  We have one more week to work with this verse before I'd like to move on to another one.  This verse will go with next week's Bible story and lessons which are all about Creation!

 

Spur of the Moment Sensory Table

Some times things just happen.  This morning was a fine example.  I have a lovely sensory table on my porch that I haven't opened in a week because it was full of moon sand and moon sand is the DEVIL. (Oh sure, the kids love it but you have to hose them down to get it off and you still find it everywhere weeks later...HORRID!) So this morning I dumped the beautiful moon sand, opened up my pantry and went hunting for some fine and fun sensory play!  Five minutes later I had a mix of 3 different kinds of pasta, including naturally colored tri-color rotini (fun!).  I got the $1 set of measuring cups from the children's play kitchen area, ran downstairs and grabbed some clean recycled plastic jars with lids, and sat outside on the porch with the children while they scooped, jumped, felt, and played for 45 minutes!  The fun would have been doubled if the bin would have been fuller with more pasta, but as it was it was a terrifically fun, spur of the moment activity.  We opened the table back up a couple hours later when some other friends stopped by to play!  

I am determined to put planned sensory bins into my weekly/monthly lesson plans as I think sensory play is super important for the ages of children I have!  Pretty soon, baby R (who was napping during play this morning) will be strong enough to stand up to this table and get messy with everyone else!!

Calendar!

Our little preschool is starting to take flight.  For the next two weeks we'll just be doing calendar and memory verse to get ourselves into the routine of sitting and paying attention.  After Labor Day the 2 oldest girls will start detailed preschool while the "littles" join in when they can and enjoy big kid table time activities with us.

(I've since changed the month, of course.  This is when I first put it up.)

Everyone is sitting on the letter that their name begins with (R is standing on his).  These are all part of a large puzzle mat but are proving to be distracting because the letters pop out.  Never fear...Miss Jenn will develop new sensory smart ones soon!

Natalee took the honor of putting the number up on the first day since she was familiar with the calendar routine.

Getting those wiggles out with head, shoulders, knees, and toes!  Look at everyone participating!

She was so sweet with this song.  She's got her toes but is ready for the next round of "heads."

A bean bag song! 

 H is the next oldest so she earned the honor of putting the letter on today!

The big girls are proving to be as attentive as I expected and the littles are surprising me by doing more than I thought they would.  I'm very excited about the learning that is happening in this time frame!  I intend to keep this as a steady familiar routine with a few fun twists thrown in each week so that this time is fun and doesn't grow stale.  We enjoy movement songs, using our hands to learn our memory verse, and singing loudly!  If you are ever around at 9 a.m. stop in for some fun!

Oh Me, Oh My!

Has it seriously been ALL summer since I've blogged???  I've been so crazy busy.  I finished up teaching a few random days of ECSE ESY, we camped for almost 2 WEEKS in the CO Rocky Mountains (more on how we did our best to make that a sensory smart trip later!), and I began watching the darlings of Miss Jenn's Joyful Jamboree on and off throughout the months.

To catch up briefly...
We got cubbies!  These gems were in Memphis at the home of a single dad who didn't want them.  $30 made them mine...they are double sided so on the backside (that's painted tangerine) we have all the dress up items.  The bins in the bottom on both sides house toys.

Here's the tribe!  A and R don't come on the same days....A comes only on Fridays and R comes Monday through Thursdays.

From L to R from top...
H, (my) Natalee, R, (my) Xavier
K, Ch, A

 L to R:  Xavier, R, H, A, K, Natalee, Ch

They are a loveable bunch and overall have played very peacefully with each other. 

The summer has been a whirlwind but I'm looking forward to joining back in the blogger world and keeping a log of our sensory smart days and preschool learning experiences!  Next week we begin calendar time and after Labor Day we will begin preschool time!

Overall, I just have to throw in here that this is just what I dreamed for my own two babies.  Take a minute to pick them out of the bottom picture.  Xavier, loving on sweet R, whom he checks on several times a day.  And Natalee, playing dress up, which was an imaginative game she totally didn't get until she had new friends to teach her!  While I sometimes get lonely for my work friends and our friend and babysitter Lora Jean, I don't miss the paperwork and the constant struggle with myself to be perfect in a school system that's not.  I'm enjoying doing laundry and making good meals for my family (and daycare sweeties), playing tea party, giving hugs, correcting with the fruits of the spirit, and wearing comfy clothes and no make-up every day!  Most of all, my kids are enjoying it, too.

When I posted this as my Facebook status this morning: 

Outdoors is a beautiful way to spend the morning. As my friends go back to teaching school I was worried I'd be sad but today I'm convinced I'm living the life for me!

one dear friend commented:

Actually you are living your life for your children, and ultimately God. That is what motivated your decision to stay home. We are going to miss you! (Anthony Blades)

He was so very right!   

Reorganization...Again!

I reorganized our play space...again!  Some of you will remember when I did this a few months back in this post and was super excited about it.  For the most part, that rearrangement has been working great for me, but I like to shake things up and keep them fresh so I went at it again tonight (at 10:00 p.m. - sigh!).  Two factors played into this rearrangement...that I resigned my job as public school teacher and am becoming a SAHM and daycare/preschool provider AND that I'm preparing for the big Beeler family yard sale so I was sorting through things anyways.  

The playroom itself has remained mostly the same.  The kitchen is still there, the train table is in it's place (though now with it's mirror above it), as you can see from that post back in February.  However, it's getting a huge face lift very, very soon as I've conned my husband into building me (the kids!) a loft above the train table.  The kitchen will be going up on the loft and the bin organizer (that previously housed the craft things) seen in the linked post above will be going into the playroom to house misc toys and blocks (I need to get some "baby" toys back out for one of my daycare sweeties).  SO excited about the loft and will post about it when he starts...thanks babe!

Resigning my job meant that all the treasures I've transferred to my classroom have to go somewhere...like home!  I've left odds and ends at the school but most of the "toys" will be beneficial to my daycare kids so I felt like they should come back to the Beeler ranch.  Also, I ordered my new Discovery Toys kit and it came with lots of fun manipulatives so they needed a home too.  Which led me to this awesome bin organizer.  I know you are all going to be jealous and I'll get emails and comments asking where you can buy one.  I'm really sorry but this gem is custom made by my father-in-law and she's all mine.  He made it for me to use in my classroom, which I have steadily for 3+ years.  It's functional and looks so nice and I'm very excited to bring it home.  At first I was stressed about where to put it at home and then I realized it solved many of my troubles.  It's replacing the plastic pastel bin organizer and houses all the manipulatives, play sets, and crafty items that the kids have free reign to.  The white tubs slide in and out easily and I will soon picture label each tub for easy clean up and sorting.  LOVE!

 I'm anxious to see how the children do with this many "things" to choose from, but I think with some diligence each can learn to choose one tub and put it away before choosing another.  And there will be messes and at some point some angel will dump all the tubs for me but overall, I love this look and am very excited about having all of these items together in one spot!

On the left:  crayons, colored pencils, paper, coloring books, stickers & notebooks, play-doh, play-doh toys.

In the middle:  magneatos, DT Groovy Shapes, unifix cubes, foam letters & numbers, and cloth letters.

On the right:  DT Jumble Zoo, DT Sensory Shape Challenge, DT TouchTec Blocks, building people, Snap-n-Style dolls, and underneath in the 2 buckets - DT TouchTec Bricks and DT MagFun Tiles.

On the top are Melissa & Doug magnetic dolls and the DT Pillar Pockets caterpillar that promotes fine motor skills in zipping, buttoning, tying, snapping, buckling & more.  See why I'm excited!?  What a load of fun in one place.

The next change was to figure out a way to move the puzzles into the general living area.  In the last rearrange I put them in the office on a shelf, and while that worked okay I didn't like that they weren't in plain view and that I had to suggest to my kids to play with them because they were out of sight.  

Also, I need the shelf space they were on to house my lesson planning and idea books and I'd like to make the office an "out of limits" play space (it can't be completely off limits b/c you have to go through it to get to the downstairs bathroom).  The little black shelf is one I've had for years and had taken to my classroom 4 years ago.  It fits perfectly beside my beloved wing back chair.  It's home to our puzzles and my interchangeable book basket (that I switch out with themes or seasons).  I love that the books are beside my cozy seat and I imagine that before rest time the children will snuggle up beside my chair for a story or two.  Sounds heavenly, huh?

There have been a couple more small changes that I'll blog about as we continue the transformation into home preschool-daycare.  Have I mentioned that my husband never complains when I get super crazy ideas like building lofts in the playroom and he never sighs when I put puzzles and a drawer/shelf unit in what is actually considered our dining room? (oh yeah, to the left of all the puzzles and toys is our dining room table).  He just pretends that it's perfectly normal and goes on about his day...and sometimes stops to play with the super fun toys. :)  Since all of this has started he's helped me downscale the office desk to make room for my piano in the office (that was in the dining room where my wing back is now), he's carried, built, cleaned, and gone along with *most* of my crazy ideas.  That's love.

Wait till I tell him I also need some cubbies/lockers built for my new lovelies coats and supplies... :)