Getting Organized in February

Good morning.  February's challenge was to tackle our storage room.  It had gotten so bad that we could barely walk in there.

Before

Yikes!

I decided to tackle the project when my parents came up to visit.  Mostly because my mom offered to help and I'm so glad her and my dad did.  They were such huge helpers.  They made the process a lot more enjoyable and quick.  It only took two hours.

Before they arrived, Xander and I moved everything into the school room.  Well, everything that was on the floor.

They put together a shelf and then we started going through everything.  I ended up getting rid of a huge pile of stuff.  The donation pickup man complained a bit about the large load, but oh well.  It's gone and out of my garage.

After

Look at all the floor space!  There are two totes and two boxes I need to go through, but I call this successful.

I love how organized it is.  Thanks Mom and Dad for helping with such a large task.

In March I will work on our blankets and sheets stash.  It's large.

Have a great day!

Determination

Good morning!  On Tuesday I made the mistake of waking Sterling up at 830 so she could talk to her dad.  She slept in the day before and was sad about not talking to him, so I wanted to make sure she talked to him on Tuesday.  Big mistake.  She was the grump of all grumps.  Until after lunchtime.  She decided early in the morning that she didn't want to do gymnastics that day, so I wasn't going to make her.  When we picked up Xander, she decided that she wanted to do gymnastics after all.  So, we headed home and she put on her gear and we headed back out the door.  

Xander and I were shocked to see her do an almost pullover on the bar.  She's never been able to kick over by herself.  We were SO loud and proud of her!  

She also rocked doing her first cartwheel off the beam.  This girl was on fire with determination!

Today, we're having another busy Thursday.  To top off our already crazy Thursday, I have an appointment with a specialist an hour away to get an ultrasound done.  I am determined to figure an issue I've been having that is not getting better.

Have a great day!

Weekend Fun

Good morning.  My parents came up for a visit this past weekend.  It's always nice when you have visitors, so it was an extra fun weekend.  I didn't take a whole lot of pictures because I was enjoying our time together.

First up, let's recap Valentine's Day.  The kids finished their Home Depot boxes the night before.  

I had planned to take the kids to Build a Bear and out to lunch because I didn't think I'd bought them anything this year.  Well the day before, as Sterling was taking a bath, I was organizing some bins and I came across all this loot.  So, trip averted and a great Valentine's morning was had instead.  

For breakfast I made waffles and eggs.  We love our Dash waffle maker.  They make waffles just like the Eggo kind and they freeze nice for easy breakfasts.

While eating, they read their notes from each other.

On Friday night, Sterling waited for Nana and Papa to arrive.  We were all so excited, so she was on watch duty.

Sleepy puppy

On Sunday we had a mini party for Papa's birthday.  

I couldn't figure out how to start the pilot on our fireplace, so my parents took a look at it for me.  It's working now and we love it.  And, all I had to do was flip the switch 🤦🏼‍♀️.  This fireplace doesn't have the pilot flame to indicate that it's already switched on.  So I guess I didn't think to switch the wall switch.  #embarrassing

Our project while they were here was to tackle my storage room.  They helped me organize it and I can't believe the transformation!  I'll share some pics next week.

Have a great day!

Lately

Good morning.  It's been pretty quiet around here lately.  The kids haven't been fighting and that in itself is a miracle!  I like to remind them that their days are more fun when they get along.  They agree.  

Sterling convinced me to take them to Barnes and Noble on Monday afternoon.  They had a gift card from Christmas, so they ended up getting some new books. 

I'm excited to see what Xander fills out in his The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book.  

I was surprised when Sterling picked out all Dr. Seuss books.

We decided to all sit together and read.

We worked on each other's hair

It must be Wacky Wednesday already?!

Driveway art

It's all washed away from the rain, but driveway art is happiness

I was setting up my planner and my stickers are all off on this page.  Bummer!

Second attempt at a two layer cake.  It actually stayed standing for more than a day.

We love talking to our favorite person.  We hadn't talked to him in a few days prior to this so everyone was all chatty and silly.

Have a great day!

100th day of Homeschool

On Friday we had our 100th day of homeschool.  We had a lot of fun things planned and did all but one.  Our first 100 days of homeschool went nothing like I imagined.  It started out really rough.  Deciding to switch curriculum to work for each kid was the best decision I made.  Watching these two grow academically has been my absolute favorite part of having them home every day with me.

Our first activity to kick off our day was to spend 100 minutes at the park.  Now, when you go planning to spend such a long time at the park, it's really hard.  Time crept by.  There was about 30 minutes left when they were both ready to leave, so I switched things up and we went to the trail behind the park and walked around a creek and climbed rocks.

Little monkey

She wasn't a fan of the ropes.  She did a gazillion pull overs on the bars though.  She takes a long minute to warm up to trying new things and after many attempts, I finally got her to do it.  Then she wouldn't stop.

He was so nervous to go through the floating tunnel

They were both tired and hot

They played hard, but we still had 30 minutes left

So we headed to climb rocks instead.

We grabbed lunch at Chic-fil-a and then headed home to continue the fun.

First up were our t-shirts

I even joined in the fun.  You can never have too many pajama shirts 😊.  I'd gotten a sunburn on my head from the park.

Xander's finished shirt.  This boy is such a perfectionist that it slows him down and makes him indecisive.  So, Sterling and I helped him out a bit.  She drew hearts and I drew stars.

After our shirts were done, we grabbed some Lego's and made the number 100.  Sterling's 1st attempt.

I like how Xander used all round pieces for his number one.

After Sterling saw Xander's she wanted to make a stacked number 100.  I love the little hook off her one!

Then it was time for the 100 cup tower challenge.

This is not as easy as you'd think.  On the carpet it kept falling over.  So we moved it up to the desk.

We did it!

And then Xander wanted to blow it over.  It didn't budge so he punched it.  He thought it was pretty cool that after he punched one cup out, it stayed standing for almost a minute before falling down.

My favorite activity was watching them create their art.  I still don't understand the message behind Xander's message on the grandpa's shirt, "Grandpa's got to do it"  I was instructed to write it in fancy writing.  I'm not good at that though, but he still really liked it.

Sterling said she was going to wear a dress when she's a grandma and have short hair like Nana.  So, I was surprised when she came out with long hair.  

Last up was our Fruit Loop necklace and bracelets.

We had so much fun, now we only have 80 days left of school.  Yah!

Have a great day.

Fun at the park

Good morning!  Did you watch the State of the Union?  I don't typically watch these sort of things, but I was told I needed to this time.  So I did and thought it was pretty interesting.  Now, lets hope a few things that were mentioned actually get done.

We've been hitting up a lot of parks lately.  Thanks to our sunny weather it makes outings more enjoyable.  It's been in the mid 70s and sunny this week so we are soaking up every last drop of sunshine we can get.  Since this is our first year in NC, we're not sure how long it'll last for it being February.

On this trip, we went to a park that we found the year before we moved here.  It was just as much fun now as it was almost two years ago.

The zip line was probably the best part for Xander.  Until he made a friend and played with him for a good amount of time.

Sterling loved the chair zip line.  As long as no one was in line, she'd do this over and over.

This boy wears himself out!

It was a good thing we brought our water because they played hard!

Just for fun...look at them almost two years ago...

In school on Monday it was exam day so not the most fun.  They survived and were glad when it was over.  Yesterday they both started their new units and in grammar Sterling is learning about context clues.  I asked her if she could give me a sentence using the word "crooked."  She went up to Bubba and said: Okay, now smile..."Xander has crooked teeth"  We all died laughing.  Good one, Sterling!  (Crooked for being bent)  She's quick y'all!

On Friday we are having our 100th day of school and we have a lot of fun activities planned!  We can't wait!

Have a great day!