Ava's First Day of Kindergarten!

Ava did such a good job getting up and ready for school this morning. She didn't seem very nervous at all... maybe just a little.

Last night we laid out her clothes and backpack and read The Night Before Kindergarten (Thanks grandma Terri for the book!). She got to bed early and was ready to go this morning!

What a difference from the last two years!

Waiting to go get in line

Lined up and ready to go into class!

She was being shy but there were no tears!

Ava's Kindergarten Orientation

We had Ava's Kindergarten Orientation tonight!

She got to meet her teacher, see her classroom and explore the school and playground.

Now she is excited to start school on Wednesday!

Getting ready to go

Finding out which class she is in and who her teacher is

Matt teaching the kids how to play tic tac toe

...and how to use the slide

Click here for a

A short video of our visit

Our weekly schedule for the school year 2015-2016

In an effort to stay on track and organized this year I have been putting together a bit of loose weekly schedule. Since the kids are only in school for a couple hours a day between 4 and 5 days a week, I want make sure we are learning at home too. On top of that, especially with the new baby coming, I want to make sure the kids understand and know how to do and complete their daily chores. I am going to need all the help I can get!

Some days this summer it has felt like there were not enough hours in the day others, too many!

I want things to feel balanced at home, not overwhelming or for the kids to (especially Ava) be under stimulated.

So I am excited about the little schedule I have put together for us.

Ava and I will have study or homework time after lunch while Jason is napping. Since Ava has an earlier bedtime than Jason, he and I will have our study or homework time in the evening when Ava goes to bed. It's really hard for me to work with both of them at the same time so I think doing things this way will work out the best and it will guarantee that they each get a bit of one on one time each day.

So here it is:

Daily:

Work on Awana verse for the week

&

Chores:

(Ava)

Feed and water the cat

Make bed

Clean room

Laundry

Wipe down bathroom counter

Straighten up shoes

Brush cat

(Jason)

Make bed

Wipe down table

Wipe down tub

Laundry

Clean room

*The kids have sticker charts to help keep them motivated. They get one sticker for completing all their chores, one for working on their verse each day, a special sticker for making their beds in the morning and a sticker for study/homework time.

Once their charts are full they get $2.00 which they can then go out and spend or save up for something bigger.

Monday

Read

1/2 hour of reading with mom

(Chapter book for Ava)

Tuesday

Sight words

Spelling

Writing

(Ava)

Dance Class

Wednesday

Math

Counting, writing numbers...

Awana

Thursday

Craft

Coordinate with movie night theme

Friday

Bake/make treat, snack or dinner to coordinate with movie night

FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT

We had to experiment a bit with Ava's bedtime last year, she is NOT a morning person and we realized she needed more sleep at night than Jason. Her bedtime ended up being 6:30 on school nights! We are going to try for 7:00 this year and adjust if needed. 

Jason still takes good naps during the day so his bed time is 8:30. This kid gets up early no matter what but so far 8:30 seems to work for him.

Today Ava and I have completed her chores for the day, worked on her Awana Verse and practiced the craft for the week.

Our movie this week is Robin hood.

We are going to make these cute little hats for our craft night, maybe do a bullseye pizza for dinner and some gold coins for our treat along with popcorn of course!

She has her Kindergarten orientation tonight so she'll get to go see her new classroom and walk around the school.

All dressed up and ready to go.

 Jason wanted to be in the pictures too.

Her first day of Kindergarten is Wednesday!

Getting ready for Awana!

Ava has started learning her first verse of the year for Spark's!

John 3:16

While working on her verse she is also learning how to read and write!

Here is a video of her saying and reading her verse and this is only the second time she has worked on it.

Club starts Wednesday
This will also be Jason's first her as a cubbie. He is so excited and has also started working on his first verse. 1 John 4:10
...God...loved us and sent his son.

He practiced writing is out yesterday.

Baby prep at 38 weeks

38 weeks today!

Just 8 days left on our countdown chain.

Matt and I went ahead and scheduled an elective induction for the 28th of August, just NEXT Friday! So unless I go into labor before then or we get bumped from the schedule we will have another little Foreman in the house in just 8 days!

Some baby goodies came in the mail today from Grandma Julie and Grandpa Mike, thank you! I can't wait to use all of these fun things!

Feel like the only thing I really want/need is probably a bouncer and maybe a few sets of crib sheets. Otherwise I think we have all the essentials!

A new shirt came in the mail. Feel like I'll be needing it here pretty soon... 

The kids had a blast this week playing outside in the pools. Couldn't help but snap a few pics of them playing in their undies. They're so cute!

This little guy comes in a lays next to me every morning until I wake up. After he's eaten his breakfast bar and grabbed his tablet of course.

So the the few things I did this week to prep for baby were finish the painting (the stripes), add the art display for the kids, clean out the fridge and freezer and have the carpets professionally cleaned.

I can't think of anything else big or major that needs to be done so I guess it's just trying to keep everything clean and tidy so we're ready to go for when little man comes home.

Grandma Julie and Grandpa Mike will be heading our way next Thursday so they can help after the baby gets here. We are so excited for them to be coming!