Daily Life

'Normal' day-to-day life with 4 little ones is busy to say the least, and the past few weeks have been no exception. We decided it would be beneficial for Elisha to participate in the production of an Easter play, knowing it would require many extra trips- 10 per week to be exact, making a total of 17 extra-curricular events. But weighing the 'cost' with what we believed Elisha needed to do has proved to be quite beneficial. He is learning life lessons of getting work done in a prioritized order, adhering to a stricter schedule to allow for the 'fun stuff' like plays, getting along with a group, following orders from someone other than Mom, and feeling the satisfaction of doing a great job. We can't wait to see the finished product next week!

Our daily routine for the past few weeks has been:

4am- up with Daddy to get him off to work

5am- shut-eye for a quick nap after he leaves

6:30am- kids up, dressed, breakfast, chores

7:30am- leave for play practice

9:15am- arrive back home to do school, piano practice

12pm- lunch

12:30pm- attempt to finish school ;)

1:30pm- leave for 2nd play practice

3:15pm- arrive home, make dinner, get Elisha dressed for Karate

4pm- eat dinner

4:30pm- off to karate for Elisha

6:30pm- home and get ready for our karate

7:30pm- leave for our karate

9:15pm- arrive home, little ones tucked in bed, Mom tries to finish up loose ends from the day- and believe me there are lots of those- most of which get carried over until the next day- and the next day...

And that is a day in the life at JuJu's place~ add making dinner, laundry, minimal cleaning, baths, and a few computer time-outs, and you get one pretty busy day. Thankfully Daddy is not working daylight shifts now, so he has been home to help- and start more demo-projects on the house- more on that tomorrow~ three cheers for Daddy!!

While we were finishing school yesterday, the office grew strangely quiet- and I discovered why: Jacob had enough-

And Carrie- this picture's for you-- the Taj Mahal has been neglected- check out the cobwebs I found yesterday- I'll have to do something about that- in a few weeks :)

Petition

Last week the state of California made a ruling that in order to homeschool, you must have a teaching degree. While there are 2 sides to every issue, usually with some good and bad on each side, this ruling hits a little close to home. If you are interested in learning more, or would like to sign a petition, it would be greatly appreciated: Here is the link: http://www.hslda.org/

Thank you in advance!

Ice, Snow, and Monty II

Life with 4 little ones has been extremely busy these days-- we've stated we would never be parents who run the little ones around all week, and here we are- 17 extra-curricular items per week later- leaving little time for much else. But, it's temporary and been a blessing the past few weeks watching Elisha practicing for an Easter play (that accounts for 10 of the extra trips). I think that once Easter comes, that familiar saying of 'it's fun, but we're done' may apply :)

All of the running around and problems with blogger and picture uploads have led to few posts-- here is the weekend recap~

Brrrr! Cold, icy, and snowy!

Leaving LOTS of time for indoor play-- BANG! I got you Mommy!

Thank goodness for LEGO's on a day stranded indoors due to weather...

Jacob decided his dinosaur was hungry-- what did it want to eat? Mommy's knee. And what better time to make a praying mantis cage -again? One must be very careful when stringing up an egg sack. And we're ready-- patiently waiting the 6-8 weeks until arrival.... does this look familiar? Hmmm... seems as though I've seen this before....

PS. Mark says we need to name him Monty II. Hope you have a great week!

it's only the beginning...

This was what was waiting on our doorstep today.

The beginning--- the beginning of the children's pet. The pet praying mantis that is. Maybe.

You see it here in black and white. 6-8 weeks to hatch! Uh huh--- sure. Let the countdown begin...