Fall

This is our favorite time of the year, for several reasons. #1 We love the way our street becomnes busy on Satruday afternoon with all the fans walking to the ISU game. We oftentimes walk to the game and visit friends who are tailgating. WHile we never usually go to a game, it's always fun to be apart of the pre-game partying! Although, we did run in to an old friend of Thomas' this last game and he gave all of us free tickets. We weren't planning on it, but made the most of it! The kids did pretty well and we made it through about 3/4 of the game before Samuel was a bit crabby and unable to make it any longer. #2 We llove going to the Apple Orchard. Last year we didn't make it too much but this year we decided to get season passes. THey have added so many fun kid-friendly attractions. It's possibly the best thing to do in the fall in Iowa. Among our favorite activites are the animals, the giant slide, the corn pool, the giant jumping pool, apple cider doughnuts (we never leave without a few) and of course, the apples. We've already been about 5 times this year and plan to go several more.

The corn pool!

The Three Billy Goats bridge

# 3 Jumping in the leaves! For some reason the kids have been talking about this more than ever. Thomas and I always feel a bit overwhlemed this time of year from the amount of leaves that need to be raked, bagged and then stored until a free leaf disposal day rolls around. It's a lot of work but the kids seem to love the tradition. The thought of the very first pile puts a huge smile on their face and hopefully motivates them enough to help out with the whole process. We'll have to wait and see. We love the fall and are thinking about throwing a party this year. Thomas's Birthday lieks on a Saturday and it would be fun to have a Birthday/pumpkin carving party this October. So, we'll see if we can pull it off but I think the kids would have a blast! The kids haven't decided on costumes yet for Halloween and I'm just hoping one of them will be ok with wearing any of the myriad of costumes we already own, but again, we'll have to wait and see.

Grandma and Grandpa took us to see Thomas the Tank Engine in Boone with the cousins! Happy Fall!

We are 21 days into our homeschooling journey and we're off to a good start. I think we've settled into a comfortable routine, which allows for A LOT of flexibility, and the boys seem to be enjoying the activities that we plan for the day. The boys wake around 7 and slowly, very slowly, get out of bed and head downstairs. I typically am up an hour or so before they awake and have started their breakfast. usually heads downstairs first and is the one who always asks if his oatmeal is ready? Some days it is, and some days I haven't started preparing it yet, but since we have it every morning, I have it made fairly quickly. Simon isn't thrilled about the idea of oatmeal, but I make sure that his is always ready to go when he comes down so he doesn't have time to think about something that sounds better to him. We wrap up breakfast pretty quickly and the boys get dressed. Ethan is pretty independent when it comes to getting ready and Simon is catching on. He still needs a little assistance every now and then. He has made the switch from diapers to underwear! I'm so proud of him and it was good timing! It was beginning to feel a bit overwhelming having two boys in diapers. We get ready, play for a bit and then sit down at the table for about an hour or so doing various subjects. We try to get Math, History, Language Arts and Handwriting done first. These take the longest and require my attention most of the time. We do some games, fun worksheets, or maybe some sort of craft that I can think of quickly that ties into what we're learning. Simon loves to sit with us and he stays busy either working alongside Ethan or working on his own workbooks. Samuel is usually sleeping at this time for his morning nap but if he's up, he's usually playing independently or on my lap, checking in to what we're doing. Around 10 or 11 we finish up and the boys play, usually outside, depending on the weather. They collect the eggs outside first and then are free to play however they would like. The boys could be out for hours! THey love being outside and if the weather is nice enough, we usually eat outside too! Following lunch is my favorite time of the day, story time. Sometimes, we'll read stories outside but more often than not, we'll be on the couch together reading books. I love this time and can't wait until Samuel is old enough and all four of us can read together curled up on the couch. Then it's quiet time and the younger one's nap and Ethan reads alone. When he's finished up, we work on reading. I enjoy all the one on one time I can get with each boy! It's so special when there's one on one time because I feel like I can really get to know them apart from their brothers. They love each other and oftentimes will act a certain way to go along with how the other is acting or playing so when it's just the one, they are truly themselves and I love this time. That's about it. The boys wake, we play, get ready for Dad to come home and start making dinner. It's a loose schedule, and I think it works well for us! Each day, I'm learning more about how they will best learn and I"m trying to adapt accordingly. It's going to be a trial and error type of year. This is the cake that I made to celebrate Ethan starting school. He wanted Batman on it.

We celebrated the first day by going out to Perfect Games that night. Thomas won the jackpot and won the boys 250 tickets!

Here are the boys playing in the backyard in a teepee that we built together! They love to pretend to be squirrels...or shoot squirrels...Boys!