Daily activities.

I am going to be trying to make a concerted effort to plan activities for Nicholas and Celia to do during the week. This week we are working on thinking about spring (cause if we think it, then maybe it'll come.. ha ha). So this week our theme is a hodge-podge of 'baby animals', 'spring' and some beginnings of Easter. I'm finding inspiration from a website called 'Tot School' or '1+1+1=1'. You can see a link to 'tot school' on the right side of my blog. She has children at similar ages as nicholas and celia and some awesome activities for them. I may have a mom or two interested in doing this as well, so perhaps we can trade materials and share our time that way.
Aside from activities at home (and the two listed above are more like 'tot trays' which are based on montessori trays) we are trying to make it to story time at the library on wednesdays and take mini field trips. We went to the pet store last week just to look at the animals and talk about them. This week we are hoping to go on a nature hike with some other kids and their moms at the nature center. And they are doing sport activities at the YMCA like swimming this month and when April ends we'll be beginning gymnastics.

I'll be posting pictures from our weekly activities later on this week :)

Using an eye dropper to transfer colored water on to the little 'cups ' of this sponge holder builds great fine motor and eye hand coordination.

Kids love to dive into different textures of objects. This tray allowed N&C to sort the beans and just feel, practice scooping and pouring them. They are doing a nice job helping to pick up so aaron isn't tempted to recover some objects and taste them. We talk about aaron choking-hazards a lot.

Some people may think a stay-at-home-mom has it easy. Well, you could... if you didn't do anything. But I feel more busy than I did when I was a full-time working woman with no children.

7am kids all wake up. N&c play or watch a cartoon while I nurse Aaron
7:30/8amish - breakfast for all of us, then get dressed, clean up from breakfast, play a bit. I may unload the dishwasher from the night before and do some other jobs around the house, check email, etc. Its crazy that time goes so quickly until aaron's first nap.
9am - I quickly nurse aaron before his nap and then I hop in the shower while N&C watch an educational cartoon on pbs.
As soon as I am quickly in/out of the shower, hair brushed and dressed we start some of the activities so I can focus on them while Aaron is asleep.
10:30am - Aaron wakes up from nap and all 3 kids play downstairs or we do some other activity.
11:00/11:30ish - lunch time for the kids
after lunch N&C calm down with some quiet time. Then I put them down for nap and after they are asleep Aaron lays down.
12:30-2/2:30 nap time is when I can work on photography or cleaning the house or planning activities for tot time.
2:30 they wake up and have snack
the afternoon is our time for errands and shopping, etc.
5:00 pm comes and it is quickly time for dinner. Cook and clean!
6:00 Aaron goes to bed at this time. He is exhausted by this time and getting cranky.
7:00 N&C brush teeth, go pee and we go off to bed to read books.
8:00pm they are usually all sleeping and Jason and I can watch a TV show
9:30ish Jason heads to bed and my night shift begins (to study photography, clean, plan and make activities)
I'm often up until midnight, but I need to be better at going to bed earlier. Listing this all out makes it seem like there isn't much to do... but there is so much!!! It's never ending. lol

p.s. these posts are often written in advance and planned to post on a certain day. so for example, it is monday when I am writing this cause I don't know if I'll have time later in the week.