School has been in “full swing” for Dave for about 6 weeks now, and it’s amazing how quickly we have adapted to our new routine.
We’re all going to bed earlier and getting up earlier, and I’m happy to say that it has been fairly easy to get everyone up, dressed, fed, and out the door by 8:00 in the morning. Although we don’t necessarily NEED to be out the door by 8 every morning, we have just sort of gotten into that habit and it has been nice to start our weekdays at a consistent time.
Some mornings we need to bring Nora to school, some mornings I run a couple arrends before the stores get busy (I definitely didn’t realize Costco wasn’t open until 10:00!), and other mornings we just go for a walk or play outside while it’s nice and cool.
You’ll probably notice by the pictures below that there were times we had hats and gloves on and times we were in shorts and t-shirts… that’s a Michigan Fall for you! The kids changed their clothing 2 – 3 times a day… which was reflected in the massive amount of laundry I did this past weekend!
Overall, last week was fabulous Fall weather — cool and foggy in the mornings, warm and sunny in the afternoons with a light breeze so you never got too warm.
The nights were just warm enough that we could keep the windows open a little bit as long as we had an extra blanket on our beds — my absolute FAVORITE sleeping weather, and one of the many many, many reasons I love Fall!
Aside from one really rainy day when we were either inside or playing on the front porch, we’ve been outside as much as possible the past couple of weeks.
We have a ridiculous number of bikes, scooters, cars, and other ride-on toys… but thanks to our long driveway, the kids (and the neighbor kids) play with them all on a daily basis.
Nora has been in major “craft mode” the last few weeks — beading, coloring, painting, braiding, etc.
We found a huge container of random beads at our local thrift store for $1 and ever since then, Nora has been faithfully organizing them into a storage container we got from a church friend.
She loves making anything with beads right now, she is obsessed with braiding string and yarn, she wants to paint almost every day, and she is getting very good at coloring in the lines (something she is quite proud of).
Nora also spent several hours last week drawing an entire town on our driveway with the last of her sidewalk chalk.
She had roads, sidewalks, rivers, ponds, railroad tracks, houses, schools, play grounds, a library, fire pits, cars, trucks, trains, animals, trees, flowers, vegetable gardens, and even tall buildings.
Any time I wondered where Nora was, I just went outside to find her drawing something else.
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Simon seems to be at the point where he might not need quite as much sleep as he used to. He still takes a nap every day (usually around 1 hour) but he’s been waking up earlier and earlier every day (often before Nora — which NEVER happened before).
I’ve been letting him play longer after lunch in attempts to shorten his nap… and one day, I let him try going without a nap. He played contently outside with Nora for a long time after lunch. He helped me in the garden and insisted that he wasn’t tired.
Later, after we all came inside, I found him completely cashed out on the couch even with Nora and James playing loudly right in the middle of the living room! Looks like he might still need an afternoon nap 🙂
Simon’s new thing is puzzles… he LOVES puzzles. Everyday, we do the same handful of puzzles numerous times and he’s always amazed when he finished — like he can’t believe he actually did it all by himself!
He seems to talk non-stop and is learning new words daily. He’s still somewhat difficult to understand, but we’re making such huge progress with his speech therapy. He’s in the stage where he says “me” instead of “my”and it’s SO fun to hear him jabber away throughout the day — “me scooter”, “me water”, “me belly”!
Oh, and sort of silly, but we finally found a pair of jeans that fit this boy and I think he’s requested to wear them every single day since 🙂
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James is in the process of (slowly) getting all 4 I-teeth and all 4 one-year molars — poor little guy 🙁
He has been extremely happy during the day, but I think the pain is just enough that he’s been waking up more at night. The one good thing about his frequent nighttime wakeups is that he has been taking REALLY long naps.
The other night, as I laid him down in his bed, I said “I love you”… to which he promptly responded “ah wo wu” with a big cheesy grin on his face. Ever since then, he has said “ah wo wu” over and over as I put him in his crib… and then giggles when I respond with “I love you too!”
He is such a sweet little boy — definitely stubborn at times — but oh so sweet.
I feel like I have nothing exciting to share… I basically do the same things over and over, day after day.
I make food, clean up spills, change diapers, wash clothes, clean the house, file papers, pull weeds, pick up toys, delete emails, write blog posts, kiss away tears, read stories, fill water cups, run errands, etc.
I did clean out our “craft corner” with Nora’s help, and I did a quick clean of our laundry room cabinets… but the rest of the week was spent in “maintenance mode”.
I found a cute little wooden TV cabinet for $12 from our local thrift store and I’m hoping to make an “addition” to the kid’s play kitchen. I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do with it, but since all 3 of them love playing with the kitchen, I figured it might be nice to have a little extra space.
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Our Weekly Menu Plan
SUNDAY
- steak on the grill
- cheesy mashed potato casserole
- green beans
- zucchini
- fruit
- garlic bread
- Oreo ice cream pie
MONDAY
- creamy chicken packets
- broccoli and cauliflower
- applesauce
- fruit
- monster cookies
TUESDAY
- pizza pasta
- green beans
- applesauce
- fruit
- monster cookies
WEDNESDAY
- stromboli
- lettuce salad
- chocolate muffins (recipe coming later this week!)
THURSDAY
- tatertot casserole
- fresh bread
- broccoli and cauliflower
- fruit
- applesauce
- Oreo ice cream pie
FRIDAY
- Culver’s!
SATURDAY
We had my family over for dinner since one of my sisters and her husband were in town over the weekend.
- pork loin
- cheesy hashbrown potatoes
- cooked carrots
- broccoli and cauliflower salad
- fruit salad
- applesauce
- rolls
- mini cheesecakes
- apple cake
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We have lots of fun activities planned for this week, including Nora’s first field trip and a fun outing for Simon with a neighbor friend. We’re also gearing up for a mini “vacation” to visit my sister and her husband next week!
Also, here’s my favorite out-take photo… at least James is looking 🙂
Michelle says
My son acted like he didn’t need as much sleep during his ‘language explosion’. I think it is a developmental ‘leap’ and their little brains are buzzing. Sounds like Simon is there too! That’s exciting, but a little tough on mom. It passes and when it does he will be much less frustrated and back to sleeping well.
Your job is so important! Thank you for raising up great kids who are curious and know right from wrong and what family means. I wish there were more of you. Thanks for sharing it on your blog.
Andrea says
oh wow — I guess I never thought of this. Simon is definitley in a “language explosion” so maybe that’s why he’s sleeping a little less. I figured he would need MORE sleep because his brain is working so much harder 🙂
Either way, it’s really not bad because he plays really well with Nora so they entertain each other they they are awake — and Nora is ALWAYS awake!!
Debby says
Love your sneak peek’s!! I just have to share with you since I see that Culver’s is listed in your menu planning. My husband and I drove up to Midland Michigan to watch our daughter play a soccer game against Northwood University. On the way home we were deciding where to grab a sandwich. Then I saw a Culver’s sign. I’m like “Oh let’s get Culver’s Andrea always talks about how good it is!” He answered “Oh ok. Who’s Andrea?” LOL We loved the burger. Very yummy
Andrea says
yay — another Culver’s convert 🙂 I should get a referral credit or something!!
We usually go there once a month and then get pizza or Arby’s once a month — other than that, we don’t go to any restaurants with our kids yet 🙂
Heidi says
With Nora being in school in the mornings now, are you still doing your “two breakfast” thing? I’d love to know how you’re making it work and being able to get out of the house! We all leave at 7:10 every day so I can’t think of a way to do a “2nd breakfast”- even though it would definitely help the overall grumpiness level of our house! 🙂
Andrea says
Good question! I’ve thought about doing another post, but we don’t really have a super strict “always do it the same way” morning routine right now (since she is only in school 2 mornings)
The other 5 mornings, we still usually do the 2 breakfasts like “normal” eating our main breakfast shortly after 8:00ish. However, on her 2 school mornings, I have pancake or waffle stuff ready to go right when they wake up (around 7:00) and they eat right away. Then I feed Simon and James a bigger morning snack and hope that Nora doesn’t get too hungry at school! So far, it’s been going well but I’ll most likely need to come up with a slightly better system once she is in school full time.
Karen says
I always love reading about your week……..FYI our Costco officially opens at 10 but you can go in and start shopping at 9:30 ~ maybe yours does too.
Andrea says
I’m pretty sure our Costco doesn’t even open the doors until 10:00 because one time I got there are 9:50 and had to wait outside with a line of other 🙁
JoDi says
Nora’s town is amazing! She did such a great job! Simon is just the cutest thing with his puzzles, and James’ “ah wo wu” melted my heart. I don’t think your days sound boring at all. I’m always amazed at all the stuff you guys do in a day! It’s so neat that your kids will be able to look at blog posts like this when they get older. I bet they’ll have a lot of fun remembering all the fun things they did and seeing how they grew!
Andrea says
I know — I didn’t believe he actually said “ah wo wu” in response to my “I love you” but when he continued to do it over and over again, I realized what he was saying 🙂
Debbie says
Oh so cute! They’re all getting so big!
Emily says
Yay for fall in Michigan! Nora looks so grown up in that second picture. Beautiful girl! We’re enjoying the wonderful fall weather right along with you and hoping the snow holds off for a long time. 🙂
Andrea says
Thanks Emily — and yes, she IS looking so grown up 🙂
Mara says
Fall is flying, looks like you guys are doing great! Our yard is beginning to fill with leaves so one of these days we will have to deal with that instead of baking…;)
Andrea says
yes, Dave’s been trying to mow the leaves regularly with our mulching blades, but we’ll need to start raking eventually!
Shelly says
“I feel like I have nothing exciting to share… I basically do the same things over and over, day after day.”
“Sometimes I dread it when people ask “what’s new?” for that very reason!
Andrea says
haha — I completely understand! I’m in a Bible study with women who are all much older than me (some old enough to be my grandma) and we always have to share one new/exciting thing we did in the previous week. Sometimes, I spend the entire morning leading up to the Bible study trying to come up with 1 thing that isn’t completely boring! All the other ladies go on trips, visit family members, go to shows and fancy restaurants, redecorate their homes… and I’m like “well, my kids are teething and getting a total of 12 new teeth right now.”
Melissa says
I would be willing to bet that whatever you share is not at all boring to them because they are in such a different season of life! My kids are all somewhat older but I love hearing my sisters and cousins talk about what their babes and toddlers are up to and it’s only a decade behind me personally.
Andrea says
haha — I’ll keep this in mind for next week 🙂
Iliana says
Hi Andrea,
I like to read about your daily routine and your children’s progress.
I think you are a great mom!
Andrea says
Thanks Iliana! I appreciate your kind words.
Janice says
Human nature craves order. It’s how God made us and all of His creation. Children especially thrive on orderliness and you are a master at giving your children this peaceful aspect in which to grow.
Andrea says
YES! I really do think we all crave order — even the people who insist they want to “go with the flow” or “don’t like planning ahead”. It is our very nature that we need order and structure (but I guess I’m slightly biased on that!)
Lorrie says
I love your blog! It’s one of three I read regularly, every day! 🙂
Andrea says
Wow, thanks Lorri!
April says
Andrea,
You are doing such an amazing job as a mother. Your kids are adorable and so very smart. I work in a kindergarten classroom, and I am so amazed by Nora. I can see that she is beyond most of the children in the class I work in. I loved her “town”. So creative. She has success in her future for sure! Keep up the good work and keep kissing away the tears. You have a very important job right now. I love hearing about the daily routine stuff that you do with your kids (but it makes me miss when my kids were little ).
Andrea says
Thanks so much April!
Nora often says, “school is boring but fun… so I’ll keep going because I like my friends even though I don’t learn anything new!”