We made it!

We have arrived. The move was a bit hectic but in the end we got pretty much everything here by 4:00. The house is a maze of boxes and random stuff that needs sorting out and slowly but surely I am finding the floors in each room.

Of course, all the kids return for daycare tomorrow so today is crunch day. At the very least, I need the 1st floor useable and safe for Tessa.

More later, right now its back to work.

Ready for September

Today is my last day for Internet access until all is set up at the new house. Over the last week or so, I've been busy searching and deciding on the homeschooling curriculum for preschool we will be attacking next year.

At 1st we were going to stick to a theme, color, and shape and lightly introduce #s and letters, but that has changed. Mainly because Charlie is further along than I realized. A few weeks ago while eating ABC type cookies he correctly identified the letter A. I was surprised so I "tested" him on a few others and sure enough he can recognized almost half of the alphabet. I am thrilled to say the least. He loves being read to and "reading" books on his own.

As far as #s go, he can correctly count by rote to 14 (then it gets a little fuzzy). He recognizes the #s 1 and 8 (random, I know) and can count actual items up to 10 so he's doing great there, too.

I've decided to go with a literature based curriculum using a combination of FIAR and lapbooking units from http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ While using http://www.letteroftheweek.com/ to work on the letters/phonics.

I will, of course, also have Justin (who is a few months older than Charlie) full time and Austin (who will be four soon) on a part time basis because he will be in the sped preschool program. Neither can count past 3 or identify letters. They know most of their colors and some shapes, though so we'll expose them to everything and see how much they can absorb.

So, since I wont have the Internet for a little bit I've been busy downloading and working up the plan so that at least for the 1st month everything is in place and I can take the next few weeks to settle in and unpack/organize the new house. We're ready for September!

Provided we survive the rest of the summer that is.

The Home Stretch

The final week is finally here! We're into the home stretch and I can't wait 'til its over. We're hoping to have everything but the furniture moved before Saturday.

The whole gang is here for daycare and it will be very interesting to see how it works keeping them from killing each other all while I'm trying to pack and clean. Plus, daily we'll be making trips to the new house at the end of the day so toys will be slowly disappearing as the week goes.

Saturday we pick up the rental truck, the guys should be here around 8:00am and the tentative plan is to be moved ... hopefully ... by lunch.

We'll see.

TGIF

TGIF .... Its been a very tiring week. Between entertaining the 5 boys all day and packing/purging when I can, I'm beat by the end of the day. Then at night we've been taking runs to the new house to drop off what I managed to get packed during the day. Charlie hasn't been getting to bed until 9:00 which leaves me all of 15 - 20 minutes before I want to crash.

I'm so LAME.

Thank God it the weekend. We still will be packing, purging,and dropping off at the new house (a lot actually) but I will only have Charlie and Tessa. Its been so hot that all week I've had the kids outside and in the pool all day but nap time .... but with just the 2 little ones I plan to keep them in for the weekend ... Yay! Believe me that's a break.

They best laid plans ....

The whole gangs here. The boys are back from their 2 weeks with their father in Maine. As it turns out, they will not be going back again this summer, sooo I have them all, all summer. Eek!

Actually the day went rather smoothly and there were no real problems. But I think it will be tough keeping 5 boys between 2 1/2 and 7 entertained all summer. Add to that craziness is the upcoming move.

Now that they are not going back to their Dad's, they will be here right up until the move. I was planning to move most of the toys and daycare supplies next week while they were gone and then get everything set up the following week after the move before they came back. You know what they say " The best laid plans ..."

2 Weeks, YIKES!

The house is clean and we've even starTed moving in some of the smaller boxes. My sewing table and machine have also been moved so now unfortunately I can't use "I'm working on the quilt" as an excuse not to get the rest of this place packed :-/

This weekend we will work intensively on the bedrooms and getting all the clothes packed and moved (except for what we will need for the next 2 weeks.) YIKES! I can't believe we will be moving in 2 weeks.

The boys from the daycare will be back next week so I can't move too many daycare toys and supplies. They'll be here for 1 week and then off again to their Dad's in Maine for 2 weeks, so after next week, we'll pack up and get all the main toys, daycare supplies, etc ready.

Well, back to work.

cleaning ... day 2

Yesterday I spent another fun-filled day cleaning the new house. I picked up Jenn and Tessa and had them come along with Charlie and I. Jenn brought a ton of laundry since the washer and dryer are up and running. Except for the fact that having Tessa there to keep Charlie company, it was counter-productive having them there.

The only task Jenn started and completed was to wash the sliding glass doors that head out to the patio. Tessa had been spitting up the whole day like a camel ... when I finally got an answer out of Jenn about what she fed her the night before it explained everything. The girl has allergies to soy and dairy products. Last night Jenn fed her boxed mac 'n cheese which has both soy and dairy. As she put it, "how are we going to know if she isn't allergic anymore unless she has it." FRUSTRATING!

I did manage to get the kitchen finished as well as the downstairs bathroom, so the 1st floor is clean, woohoo!