wednesday

Breakfast: fiber one pancakes with choc chips, banana, milk (all ate VERY well!)

Lunch: Eggs with cheese made with EVOO, organic bberry yogurt, fresh pears, pb crackers and milk (all once again ate well, must all be growing)

Great morning!!! The kids had a great time with free play early this morning. I let them totally trash the play room (the ripped all the toys out and had a blast). They were very creative with ways to play with the toy bins (haha)

School Time: We did the weather, day of week/month (even Thomas and Landon are catching on with the calendar (they each got a turn to put up the day of the month). We did our 5 little pumpkin finger play practice then everyone got to make a new name tag. I had all of their names written ahead of time and pulled one out at a time and went over the letters and had them guess who's name it was. They colored them. We talked about orange and green (colors already on the name tag)

We then talked about the trees and how they turn colors and fall in the Fall. They each did a coloring page of a tree then the older boys (and paige too) glued on fall leaves (Thomas and Landon lost interest by this point)

Next, Science time(the best part of the day) each kiddo got their own magnifying glass. We became detectives and looked through our mag. glass to see what happens. ALL of the kids loved their glasses! Thomas acted like it was a prize and was so proud of it (if any of the kids came near him he would scream!) Bryce and Hayden were really into looking at things outside and would say "it's really big" they looked at leaves, bark, grass, sand, etc. We will definately use these again another day!

We also learned another action play (it's on their tree paper) about trees.

We spent the rest of the morning outside running and playing!

Thomas was very happy today but did start tugging at his teeth around lunch time so I gave him some motrin at 11:30.

Paige was collecting leaves outside today and kept bringing them to me and saying "leaf"

Hayden is having a good day (no accidents) Shana you don't need to give 2 things of wipes anymore per month since he is potty trained now. Just don't bring any next month. PS I love that up and up brand of wipes from target!

tuesday

***Came across this pic of Paige and didn't think I sent it to you back in Aug. Boys played dress up yesterday (Hayden didn't want to dress up like a giraffe :-(

Breakfast: fiber poptart, banana, milk

Lunch: spagetties, cheese, fresh pear, milk (and yes a cookie since they didn't get any treats for going potty today)

All ate very well! The 3 older boys did great with the potty today (Tristan was back on track)

We took bryce to school then had lots of play time at home.

We sang our songs from the rainforest cd. Then we reviewed yesterdays skills (#3 and colors green and orange)

We then talked about sticks and used them to make paintings. Paige shocks me how good she is at table time. She acts like she's 3. She will sit there and paint and color like she's been doing it forever. I took pics (but they were with my phone) Tristan and Hayden did a good job of telling me what colors they wanted to paint with.

We then practiced our pumpkin poem and played outside until it was time to go to preschool.

Hayden told me many times today that "he needed me" haha

Paige still hasn't pooped for me. (not that I mind)

Reminder: Paige needs back up clothes.

thanks,!

tuesday

***Came across this pic of Paige and didn't think I sent it to you back in Aug. Boys played dress up yesterday (Hayden didn't want to dress up like a giraffe :-(

Breakfast: fiber poptart, banana, milk

Lunch: spagetties, cheese, fresh pear, milk (and yes a cookie since they didn't get any treats for going potty today)

All ate very well! The 3 older boys did great with the potty today (Tristan was back on track)

We took bryce to school then had lots of play time at home.

We sang our songs from the rainforest cd. Then we reviewed yesterdays skills (#3 and colors green and orange)

We then talked about sticks and used them to make paintings. Paige shocks me how good she is at table time. She acts like she's 3. She will sit there and paint and color like she's been doing it forever. I took pics (but they were with my phone) Tristan and Hayden did a good job of telling me what colors they wanted to paint with.

We then practiced our pumpkin poem and played outside until it was time to go to preschool.

Hayden told me many times today that "he needed me" haha

Paige still hasn't pooped for me. (not that I mind)

Reminder: Paige needs back up clothes.

thanks,!

tuesday

***Came across this pic of Paige and didn't think I sent it to you back in Aug. Boys played dress up yesterday (Hayden didn't want to dress up like a giraffe :-(

Breakfast: fiber poptart, banana, milk

Lunch: spagetties, cheese, fresh pear, milk (and yes a cookie since they didn't get any treats for going potty today)

All ate very well! The 3 older boys did great with the potty today (Tristan was back on track)

We took bryce to school then had lots of play time at home.

We sang our songs from the rainforest cd. Then we reviewed yesterdays skills (#3 and colors green and orange)

We then talked about sticks and used them to make paintings. Paige shocks me how good she is at table time. She acts like she's 3. She will sit there and paint and color like she's been doing it forever. I took pics (but they were with my phone) Tristan and Hayden did a good job of telling me what colors they wanted to paint with.

We then practiced our pumpkin poem and played outside until it was time to go to preschool.

Hayden told me many times today that "he needed me" haha

Paige still hasn't pooped for me. (not that I mind)

Reminder: Paige needs back up clothes.

thanks,!

monday

Breakfast: whole grain waffle with cin and sugar, banana, milk

lunch: periogies, organic bberry yogurt, fresh cut pears, milk (all ate very well today, lots of seconds and thirds)

No poops this AM from Paige or Thomas. Tristan pooped in pants during breakfast and didn't do anything in potty, then after lunch he peed in potty but then got up and threw the potty on himself!!! all over his pants (not a good potty day for him!) Hayden had no accidents so far and is doing well! Paige kept sitting on the potty and smiling!

The kids seemed to miss each other so we did a lot of free play today. They were really into puzzles and did that for a half hour. We started our Oct/fall curriculum (will come back to the rainforest one afterward) I want to get in all our fall crafts.

We did the day/month/week, weather (yeah for sun!), we had some major fights over who gets to do weather and day so I'm thinking we might be getting a job chart up soon. (I have one of those!)

We talked about trees and Hayden and Bryce practiced cutting, everyone then pasted 3 trees and leaves on paper. We counted the trees and then looked at a puppy dog with 3 spots.

Next we learned about the colors orange and green and went around the room searching for orange and green items. Alicia, Tristan did well with this (but did find some yellow things he thought were orange)

We sang our songs (will continue to practice from old curriculum)

We did some additional things to get ready for Halloween. I pulled out all my Halloween books and taught the kids my favorite "5 little pumpkins" poem with hand motions (they will have this down my halloween, we will do it every day!) Can you tell I get excited for hoidays!

All played very well today!!! It's amazing to think how far all 6 of them have grown since this time last year!! wow! FYI we started brushing our teeth after both breakfast and lunch (I have plenty of kid toothpaste, but am running very low on the baby gum stuff, if you would like your child to have the gum cleanser without flouride please bring some, if you just want them to have good old water on their brush (most magazines say this is all you need anyway) that's fine too.

Reminder: Check your cubbies for items to take home!

thursday

Breakfast: fiber poptart with banana and milk (Tristan only ate his banana)

Lunch: whole wheat mac n cheese, apples (apple sauce for sissy and landon, pb crackers and milk) all at well except Tristan didn't touch mac n cheese.

Tristan was in rare form today (you were right Joe!) him, Bryce, and Hayden fought like cats and dogs this morning (thankfully it's preschool day for Bryce). Even during school he had his grumpy pants on. We taught him a song about Kindness (funny ehhh?) and he looked at me like "you've got to be kidding lady?" finally when we did his favorite song "the bug song" he got happy again and started break dancing.

School today we learned about the #3 again and did finger tracings, we read our rain forest book, did the weather (Tristan and Hayden led this) and day/month of week (they just love putting the things up on the board!) We pretended to be animals today too! We then talked about the letter Z and they did some coloring and pasting with things that start with z

We then got outside before the rain came. Tristan was having a tough time sharing the swing set (pretty much screamed when he wasn't on the swing :-(

Hayden kept dry all day (pooped 2 times even on the big potty) Tristan pooped and peed after lunch (too late in the am!)

Paige is in good spirits today too!

Have a good week next week Shana and Jer! We will miss Hayden and Paige to pieces!!!!

Wed

Breakfast: cereal, banana, milk (all ate well)
Lunch: pb and jelly sandwich, fresh peaches, yogurt, milk (Thomas refused to eat the yogurt (kept telling me "no", Landon only ate yogurt, the rest ate very well and got a cookie) Paige didn't drink much again, I think it's because of her stuffy nose.

Excellent morning for all (days like today I feel like I could take a million kiddos!!!) Everyone is happy and playing well!. Hayden (I can't even believe it) had no accidents, and I even kept offering extra to drink just to see how good he has it! He told me every single time he had to go (6 times!!!) he pooped 1 time on the little potty then got brave and sat on the big potty and went again! I asked him if he was done with diapers and he said "yes" he gave me his "angry face" when I put a diaper on him for nap (he might prefer some type of training pant/pull up for naps and bedtime)

Paige loves her new shoes!!! They worked well outside, Hayden refused to put on his play sneakers (he's been complaining they hurt him and are very difficult to put on. It wasn't wet outside so I let him wear his new shoes, you might want to bring another pair over (the velcro carters ones?) if you don't want him to have his new shoes on.

Thomas is a snuggle bug today, and FYI (you probably already know this) his favorite game is for you to lay down and he sits on your head (haha) Oh and he is going to love the beach!!! Today was the first day I let him play in the sandbox. He loved it!!! I wish I had my camera with me but I did take some with my phone (remind me) He didn't even eat (much :-)

Oh and Crystal, you weren't the only one who had to bath your little one first thing this morning. Landon did the same thing as Thomas (I was wondering why he was up at 2:30 in the morning!
School:

We began with our weather watcher Wendy and looked outside and then did the weekly/monthly calendar. Hayden was first to say "cloudy Ashy!"

The kids all held the hands on 3 and traced it with fingers. We then placed the 3 on a card with the #3 on it and counted 3 circles to put on the dots.

We reviewed circles and did our circle page in our journals. The kids made circles on their paper (i of course helped the little ones)

We talked about what friends are (excellent for Bryce because this is what he learned yesterday at school. We thought of ways we can be good friends and I wrote the ideas on thinking feathers and placed them in our friendship bird house. Hayden and Bryce loved putting the feathers in our house!

We discussed the canopy layer in the rainforest and did a cutting (babies ripping) activity with different animals. They then glued the animals in their canopy layer paper. Paige did awesome with the tearing :-) Hayden and Bryce were very excited about their first attempt in cutting (didn't do too bad, Hayden wants to use his left hand though?

We again pretended to be different animals of the rainforest (jaguar, parrots, frogs, monkeys)
We sang our songs (and did 1 new song on kindness) and dancedThe rest of the morning we played outside (very nice and cool)

Note: I have only been really getting finished 2 complete lessons per week so we aren't even half way through the Sept. curriculum. However, I have the October one (which has October things involved like Halloween and pumpkins. So when I return from vacation we are going to actually hope over to the October curriculum (so you will get a new parent newsletter) then after I finish that curriculum (probably will take till end of Nov.) we will come back to our current curriculum (rainforest)

Have a fun/safe trip next week Thomas!!

tuesday

sorry no pics today, we were too busy busy busy!

breakfast: fiber poptart and banana with milk (all ate well)
lunch: spagetties, cheese, butter bread, fresh peaches (no one ate very well :-( ) They are going to be hungry after naps today!

Tristan is having a great day! We took bryce to school and got to walk inside to see his classroom (Tristan of course did not want to leave!) I took Landon and Tristan to the pet store (to get cat food) They loved the animals (ask Tristan to say chinchilla, it's so funny!) Then we went to cvs (I needed more butt cream) I got a super awesome deal today! $.90 huggies swimmers but they are size small up to 26 lbs. I grabbed 6 bags (thought you might want some for either Tristan or hopefully baby/babies to be (even got some lil mermaid ones for a girl????) both boys enjoyed our little trip out.

The rest of the morning we played outside and I was cracking up at Tristan because he wouldn't let me sit for a second. He wanted me to throw the ball so he could bat and if I tried to sit he would grab my hand and pull me up. He of course got frustrated that he couldn't hit the ball every time.

Landon is much better today.

All boys are playing up in bryce's room, I'm going to put Landon to bed soon he has speech and ot at 3. I'm hoping to take the big boys downstairs for some curriculum/game time and put them down around 1

ash

monday

Breakfast: whole wheat waffle with cin. and sugar and banana and milk (all ate well, even Landon!)

Lunch: eggs with cheese, fresh peaches, yogurt, milk, cookie for dessert (all ate pretty well, Paige didn't drink much of her milk though)

Hayden is doing a super job in big boy underpants today (only 1 tiny accident because he forgot he had a diaper on) he peed 2 times and pooped 1 time and seemed to enjoy being in big kid pants. I'm pretty sure this is it, no more diapers for him here except naps. He will have bad days, but I really think consistancy works the best (and the motivation that he hates when his pants are wet/dirty.)

Hayden, Paige and Landon have a river flowing out their noses (heads up Crystal and Alicia, major cold going around, sorry Landon caught it from the germy doc. office!)

Thomas had a great morning, 3 huge poops this Am!!! What did he eat over the weekend? haha

Outside for an hour today (so beautiful outside) all kiddos enjoyed the nice weather

School time:

Weather, day of week/month (we are becoming experts at this!)

We did hands on #3. The kids traced it with their fingers and then we went around the room with a bucket and put in 3 items at a time (3 balls) (3 tools) (3 books) etc. All kids participated very well.

We then colored our page #3 in our journals and made 3 spots for our jaguars

Next it was time to play with our jaguar craft! We talked about the sound jaguars make and how they live in dens. We made a den with a blanket on top of the table and pretended to be jaguars (so funny) The kids used their jaguars to hide under the table.

We tried unsuccessfully to sort small/big red/green circles and count them to 3. The little ones just wanted to put them in their mouth so it was put away fast!

Hayden and Bryce played a memory game with rainforest animals and had a lot of fun. The little ones each got a pair of animals to hold while they played.

We finished off with singing our 3 songs.

Great morning, all are asleep (except Bryce) Paige loved her new toothbrush today :-) I think Thomas could use a few shirts here. Hayden needs some more underpants.

Thursday

Breakfast: fiber one poptart with milk and grapes (for some reason no one wanted to eat much so they all ended up eating their breakfast in my car when we took Bryce to school.

Lunch: spagetties, cheese, watermellon, pb crackers (all ate very well)

Hayden and Tristan and Bryce all did a poop and pee together on potties after lunch (and got 3 jelly beans) or jelly jeans as Hayden says,

Tristan peed on potty this morning

All the kids loved going for a little drive (and it's very little, like 2 minutes) Tristan was sad to see bryce go to school.

During his absence we played, had school time, and went outside (it was weirdly peaceful!!!!) although it was funny to see Hayden be the oldest (he started getting more pushy as time went on with the little ones)

The kids did the weather, day of week, month (Tristan and hayden did a good job!)

We sang out songs (they love that bug song!) danced.

Then we did the sign for alligator and pretended to be alligators,

We then read our book of the month "the rainforest"

Finished off by making our craft jaquires (which we will use next week)

wednesday

What a crazy morning! We were a little off schedule today due to Landon's ailment! When he woke up barking like a seal I knew he had to go back into the docs. So I packed up all 5 kids and met kyle in at springdale pediatric. The kids LOVED the car ride (I had an elmo video playing) and gave them all snacks and water when we got to the office (I didn't take them in I just gave Landon to Kyle and left with the rest of the bunch) Landon has croup (some type of virus that affects the voice/throat) so if any of your little ones start barking take them to the doc for some steriods (that's what Landon got) I have no idea how contagious it is??

So we haven't gone outside yet today :-( really hoping the rain stays away until tonight so we can go out after nap time.

Breakfast: choc chip pancakes (Thomas had 2!!!) and grapes all ate well (not Landon)

Lunch: Whole grain mac n cheese, yogurt, watermellon (thanks crystalann :-) Thomas and Paige didn't eat very well (but drank their milk) Thomas introduced me to his new game of throw my food all over the floor. I'm guessing they just ate a lot for breakfast and with snack (which they never have in the am) they just weren't hungry yet.

School: When we got home from the doc's we went downstairs.

We began with looking at the weather (Hayden said "It's cloudy Ashy!" Then did the date, and day of week.

We talked about the letter A and the sounds it makes and some words that start with A (like alligator) I had the little ones tap on the table when we said A goes "A" they liked that

We then pretended to be alligators and learned the sign language for alligator and I showed them how tongs look like an alligators mouth and said "open" and "shut" and we practiced that for a while.

We then talked about jaquires, what they look like, where they live (in the rainforest) We started a craft (didn't finish it today) but all the kids did finger paint

Finished with our songs and heard a new song, The Jaquire song

Hayden pooped and peed on potty after lunch (I got a little more firm with him today, he didn't like it but he went) Paige learned how to take off her diaper, I'm having a tough time keeping it on her today!!! (haha)
Thomas is in good spirits today, didn't even fall asleep in car, because Bryce kept making him laugh!!!

have a good day!