Saying Goodbye

Harley's time with us on earth is getting shorter. He is not doing well at all. He is having syncopal episodes (where his heart is out of rhythm and is not providing oxygen to his body) several times a week now and last night he officially had a seizure. Last night I told Cody "it is time".

We didn't want to ever get to this point but we are here. I don't want him suffering and I don't want the girls to see his attacks - which they haven't so far.

Last night I prayed for God to take Harley peacefully and that we will be ok although it will break our hearts.

This morning I didn't know what I would find when I went to let them out. I couldn't arrouse him at first but I saw him move so I knew he was still with us. He had no desire to get up and go outside so I had to do a lot of convincing.

Today we told the girls Harley was "very sick" and Reese understands he will be dying soon. She also seems to understand he won't be coming back. The girls focused on loving on him during our outside play so that we could get some last pictures.

Cody called the vet and talked about our options. It is not good he is having seizures now. She was surprise he survived the one last night. She said his heart condition is depriving him of oxygen which is triggering the seizure. Her suggestion is what we already knew in our hearts needs to happen.

Cody & I are trying to come to terms with this and will call back to schedule it when the time is right. I think a small part of us is praying he will turn the corner and be fine. He can't handle too much more of this and neither can we.

Reese & Harley

 Emma & Harley

Scarlett & Harley

We don't to say goodbye!

We love you Harley with all our hearts!

Analysis After 1 Week of Preschool

As we are working on week 2 of preschool at home I wanted to take the time to reflect on the first week. We had a dinner get-together Friday night and I got a lot of "so...how's it going at home?". So here is the rundown...

Fun is Messy!

The messier the projects are for the day the more fun the kids have - figures. I literally have to keep a jug of clorox wipes upstairs in our preschool area to wipe down their tables from all the markers, crayons, stamps, do-a-dots, glue, etc. Thank goodness everything we use is WASHABLE but we do end up with a lot of dirty elbows and clothes.

They Learn Fast! 

After 1 week of being at home I have Reese writing the "S" in her name the correct direction (instead of backwards like she had been doing for quite some time). Reese has also memorized the sight word Zoo, which was not part of our lessons - but just kinda happened when reading stories.

Scarlett is now saying "I did it!" which is her first 3 word sentence! I'm not really sure what it is that she did - but she thinks she accomplished something :) She has also learned the motions of "jumping". She now squats down and pops back up (but never comes off the ground) thinking she has just jumped!

Emma had never traced before in her previous daycare. After just 1 week of working on pre-write tracers, Emma is now tracing! Dry erase is proving a bit difficult with her being left-handed because she drags her hand across what she just did but she needs so much practice that I want her to be able to reuse the pages.

This was Emma's reaction today when she wrote the bottom row of 9's without any tracing dots!

Don't Underestimate!

I had not planned on incorporating math into Reese's learning this summer but then I heard her adding on her fingers. We can ask her what 6+1 is and she will count on her fingers until she figures out 7. She already has 5+5=10 memorized. So I started finding math worksheets. This was our first one and is pretty simple with just pictures. We have upgraded to numerical math worksheets and she simply amazes me!

More Work Needed!

"Can I have something else?" is what I heard a lot of on days 1-3. I thought I had a lot of material for each day and I needed more! The girls actually ask for more worksheets. I quickly learned how long the prep works takes me and how FAST they finish something! I have been filling in a lot of extra material that I didn't have on my original calendar. Now I know how to better plan for June.

Organized Play!

The girls get "centers" as part of their free play time each day. After we finish a section of our work they get to pick a "center" (i.e., the dollhouse, art table, library books, kitchen, etc). I don't know how else to explain it but when the girls have "center" time they play AWESOME together! They interact, role play, play with each other, don't fight, and basically have more organized play than they ever did before. I honestly don't know what is causing this - but I like it! It is so fun to watch them play house. Emma will get a purse and high heals and push the baby stroller to Reese's door and knock to go in.

Stamps!

Kids will do anything for a stamp! I am not kidding. There are days when they have 4 or 5 of them going up their arm! Emma has learned that if she can sit still, listen, and participate during the morning opening time (calendar - months and days, weather, color, nursery rhyme & pledges), then she will get a stamp! Although Emma is still young to learn the pledge of allegiance and pledge to the cross she now holds her flag and puts her hand over her heart and tries to repeat the words.

Wake Up Before They Do!

Although I value sleep as much as anyone - getting up to an alarm to allow myself to wake up makes for a better day! I have time to wash my face, put on a light layer of make up, get dressed and brew a cup of coffee before they start in with their daily "chaos" :) My girls are on a wake up schedule of 7-7:30am just from having to go to Concordia for so long. So I get up btwn 6:45 and 7am to prepare myself for the day. It is my quiet time.

Yes, we are doing preschool!

I have gotten different reactions about pre-schooling them at home. Although we have complete support on our decision for me to stay home with them, I don't think most understood that involved actually teaching them while they are home. Most responses involved just letting them play, they will have time to learn, etc.

However, Cody and I agree that if we were pulling them out of a educational environment, then we would continue that to our best ability at home. I don't want my girls "falling behind" and someone still has to prep them for kindergarden - meaning me. I don't want them to lose the information they have already learned by not reinforcing it at home.

We do have playtime, including 2 separate outside play times each day. Listening to Bible songs usually involves marching around the game room in a line singing along - and the girls love it!

Spanish so far has involved a game I found called "Busca, Busca" (Search, Search). They think it is hysterical and I've caught Reese reenacting it herself when she was role playing. I chant "Busca, Busca algo (fill in a color in Spanish)" while holding up the coordinating bean bag. The girls run around upstairs looking for an item to bring me that is the same color and my Spanish word. It is crazy, silly time but they are learning their Spanish colors in a fun way. (I found this idea on someone's blog but can't seem to find it again).

I Value This Time

Although there were tears on day 1 and several learning curves to this process, I value this time with my girls! I can be the one to praise them and make them feel special and smart when they learn something new! I get to watch them grow as sisters. I know exactly what they accomplished that day and the best part is - they can repeat it. Reese will ask me what we are learning about tomorrow with this curious look of excitement and it makes me smile!

My girls are learning & playing together. I know it will get even better with time and this week is already so much better than last week. Emma is having some of her best attention spans and participation this week. Overall, I feel like it was a crazy but very rewarding week!

Our 7th Anniversary

I can not believe we just celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary!! Cody and I had a wonderful little getaway Saturday at the JW Marriot Resort & Spa. We enjoyed a lunch date, then checked in for our 2 hour couples massage/spa treatment - which was AMAZING! We both almost fell asleep during our massages!

After the spa we went down and enjoyed the lazy river and water slide - which is still fun no matter how old you are! We then got dressed up for dinner late night dinner reservations at 18 Oaks.


Dinner was DELISH! I think that is the BEST filet mignon I have ever had! I just wish I could have eaten it all! We enjoyed some drinks and live country music back inside the hotel. The next morning we were able to enjoy relaxing by the pool for a while before having to check out.

It was the perfect little getaway! I love you Cody! To many more...

Preschool Progress

I don't plan on blogging every aspect of what I teach the girls but I was so proud today! I was reviewing the number 8 with Emma and taught her that it is just two circles...and she traced her first set of 8's for me! I don't think she has ever written an 8 before! I made such a big deal out it to make her feel proud :)

Pause for a quick picture before her left hand could smear that perfectly good 8!

Magnet sheet fun!

Power Magnets

I debated buying these power magnets for the magnet pages I found but all I could find was rave reviews from other mothers/teachers about how these build fine motor skills. And so far the girls LOVE them! The themed sheets have white circles throughout the image that require them to place the magnets in certain spots.

Airplane Crafts

I didn't plan on blogging this but I just love how this art turned out from today!

I wasn't sure what I was going to write in the clouds (even when I wrote my last post) but then it dawned on me to write the new song I taught them today! In case you missed it...

Airplane Song (tune of 'Are You Sleeping')
Little airplane, little airplane,
in the sky, in the sky,
I can see you soaring, I can see you soaring, 
Up so high, Up so high. 

Plane printable here

Cloud printable here

Here are the girls' foam airplanes! They really loved picking out the "glitter" for their planes. (Scarlett ripped her plane apart before she even got started). 

Template here

Emma is learning about the number 9 this week. (All my girls made these but I made sure Emma ended up with 9 and she had to count them out). 

I really like Twisty Noodle for coloring pages because you can control what the words say at the top of the page!

Reese's very colorful airplane!

PRESCHOOL at Home

I wanted to update on the 2nd half of yesterday. The girls had a lot of fun painting their airplanes outside! It was beautiful weather. Reese requested pink paint - which she is making very clear that it is her new favorite color.

Today (day 2) is going MUCH better! The girls were able to recall our Bible story about Philip and the Ethiopian. We reviewed Jack & Jill (which Emma seems to really enjoy), the color purple, the calendar (days of the week, months of the year, etc).

We also did an over/under worksheet:

Source

We are still learning about airplanes today but focusing on "Soaring with Jesus".

We colored big airplanes that we will glue to construction paper and attach paper clouds with sayings. And we also colored simple stick planes (Reese says it looks like a cross) and glued them to paper and will be gluing cotton ball clouds on after nap.

I taught the girls a new song today and they had fun holding their arms out like airplanes and flying their painted stick planes while singing the song!

Airplane Song (tune of 'Are You Sleeping')
Little airplane, little airplane,
in the sky, in the sky,
I can see you soaring, I can see you soaring, 
Up so high, Up so high. 

This afternoon the girls will make foam airplanes and decorate them. Today has definitely been more "fun" and they really enjoy the arts and crafts. Reese LOVES doing worksheets (she's just like me)!

**UPDATE**
To see our airplane arts & crafts click here.

first day of PRESCHOOL at home!

Today is day one of preschool at home and I am overwhelmed with emotions right now. I am so happy to have this treasured time with them but at the same time feel like I am not doing anything right.

Reese is helping me like a big girl and listening well! Emma is having a hard time taking me seriously since "home time" is usually "fun time". Scarlett is my wanderer and gets into everything and distracts us from our lesson. This is a learning experience for all of us and I am hoping we get better at ... fast!

Today we are learning about Airplanes as part of transportation month. Here is some of our morning lesson:

Reese & Emma took turns tracing the lines on some airplane themed paper. I told Emma she could draw a smiley face on hers.

Reese practiced reviewing the letter A.

 Emma impressed me by identifying which picture was different and circling them!

Our power magnets didn't come in the mail so we had to improvise with pom poms. 

We also glued together some clothes pins and popsicle sticks to make airplanes and will paint them this afternoon. 

The girls learned the Bible story Philip & the Ethopian along with a little song to go with it:

Philip stopped to help a man,

help a man, help a man,

Philip stopped to help a man,

he told him about Jesus.

Both girls were singing it by the time we were done and we will continue to cover this story all week. We even rolled up paper like a scroll (which you may notice in their cubbies in the pictures) and the girls pretended like they couldn't read what was on it and had to ask for help to understand it. 

I pray that we all get better at this transition of preschooling at home!

*UPDATE* See our afternoon and day 2 here