School Time

It's officially time for Rilyn to start school!  We had originally planned on sending her to our local public school and felt good about it.  She was registered and had gone to all the back to school nights they had...but a couple weeks before school started Tyler and I decided to try homeschooling out.  I've always wanted to because I love teaching and most of all I love teaching my own kids.  We were already doing preschool at home and it has gone well.  It was a really hard decision because our neighborhood school is actually a great school and Rilyn really loves to be part of a group and socializing with other kids.

It is really important to us that all of our kids get the chance to be part of a community outside of our home so we were excited when we learned our district offers some homeschool enrichment programs. So, we signed up Rilyn to attend a Science/Spanish program twice a week for 3 hours, and we will do the rest of school at home.  In addition, to the program she has Sunday school, usually some sport, plus various other playdate occasions with friends.

We started school this last week and it's been an adjustment for us all.  Monday Rilyn was plain exhausted from the weekend so was super whiny even when I was making her chocolate chip waffles for a special breakfast.  We worked through the morning, but there was a lot of complaining and crying from all the kids so I gave it up, we went outside, and after her 2 hour nap we resumed and finished what I had planned.  She was awesome in the afternoon and was happy to do school with me. The nice thing about being home is I can work around their needs!

Some fine motor work 

Rilyn working on sounding on words

Playdough sight words

As you can tell the boys just do school with us.  If I give them activities to do they don't feel left out and don't cause trouble.  When they are bored of school they can go play.  I am working with Ryder on about the same level as Rilyn so I'm expecting a little more of him than Sawyer, but it helps that he has a natural tendency to want to do school.  And, I'm positive we will have rough days when the boys just want my attention.

Tuesday Rilyn was off to enrichment.  She told me she was excited but still a little nervous.  I was happy she could understand that it was okay and normal to have both emotions.  We all took her to school that first day and I think she felt pretty special that morning.  I did fine until I left and then I just wanted to turn around and pick her right back up.  Leaving your kid with strangers is so dang hard, but I know it's good for her.  The boys also weren't big fans of leaving their sissy behind.

When the boys and I got home, I got to enjoy watching the boys play without the direction a.k.a bossiness of their sister controlling the play scene and it was a real sweet moment for me.  I'm happy these two will have a chance to develop their own relationship.

After pick-up we headed straight to the park to run off some energy before lunch.

Rilyn enjoyed her time at school, but was a little disappointed they didn't get to play.  They don't have a recess which actually is a little disappointing to us also since we are primarily sending her for social interaction so we will have to try it out this year and reevaluate.  She is happy to go and happy to come home so I guess that is a good sign.

Wednesday I decided to tweak a few things in our schedule.  My goal would be to do most of our school work in the morning to leave the afternoon free for play.  That will be a challenge if I try to fit everything that sounds fun into our day, which by the way I did on Wednesday.  Rilyn was a champ and soared through everything Wednesday.  Tyler had an idea to set up a schedule on the computer for her and she loves it!  She sets her own schedule in the morning and then knows exactly what she has to get done.  This works incredibly well for her.  When the boys were antsy we took our lessons outside and since it was drizzling her and I sat in the garage for math.  Of course she had to teach Ryder what he missed out on while riding his bike.  

Again, she took another great nap and Ryder happened to nap also. He then fell back to sleep on his mama.  Oh my heart melts.

That afternoon, I almost ruined a perfect homeschooling morning by trying to fit more into our day than we needed too.  Like bake cookies for Poetry Tea Time and draw in our nature journals.  It's going to be so hard for me to say no to things.  We even ended up having tea time without cookies because I couldn't get them done before it was too late for them to have an afternoon snack.  

On Thursday, Rilyn had her enrichment program and then we hung out at grandma's for a little while. After nap, Rilyn did a little reading and we did a quick math lesson.  I'm not sure how much actual school we will do on the days she has enrichment, but I would like to do a little because I would like to leave Fridays open for field trips, our mom's group, or whatever fun activity we can come up with. 

On Friday, Rilyn worked on school all morning so we could spend the afternoon at the park.  

Sawyer right in on the action of some phonics

I think the week was successful.  At least Rilyn loves showing dad everything she knows and is excited for school next week.  She loves the attention she gets from me, and has had a really good first week.  I have a lot to tweak as far as scheduling goes, and I need to learn to let some things go. It all seems fun and important so it's hard for me to say no.  I'm hoping next week we can get through our schedule a little more quickly and smoothly so we are not doing school so much.  Even if Rilyn likes it I want to give her lots and lots of play time especially outside while it's still nice and we can enjoy being outside.

Chicago

Tyler and I were able to go on a vacation all alone this month.  It was so amazing and long overdue. We had never spent more than 2 nights away from the kids, which happened well before Sawyer was born.  I was gone a total of 3 nights; although, Tyler stayed longer because he was actually in Chicago for work. My mom came to stay with the kids so I wasn't at all worried about them knowing they would have amazing grandma time and Rilyn just keeps asking if next time I could go away for 11 nights...we compromised on 4.  It was so nice having my mom come to stay because we didn't have to pack up the kids to go anywhere, she watched the dogs too, and we knew they were having the best time of their lives! I was of course pretty panicky that something would happen to Tyler and I really had to calm myself down the weeks leading up to the trip.

We had such a great time and I think we had a great balance of sight-seeing and relaxing.  We definitely didn't want to overdo it since we never get time just to relax and be together.  Really Tyler and I are both so tired of always needing to feed children.  Between 3 meals a day and snacks I feel like we are either cooking, cleaning up after, or planning meals so just not needing to be responsible for that would have been enough of a vacation for me.

We arrived on Friday and after an extra long airport stay due to awesome traveler woes we had time to check-in and grab a bite to eat.  We also took a walk in the rain to Ghirardelli's Ice Cream.  The best part of the trip was not cooking, eating together with no interruptions, and not sharing my dessert!

The next morning we headed to an amazing breakfast spot and walked across the street to Millennium Park for awhile.  It was nice to just walk around and sight-see.

The rest of the day we lounged around in the hotel.  We grabbed lunch to go and got fancied up for a dinner out.  Ah vacation is the best.  I also took some bad baby belly photos in the hotel room because I never remember when it's light outside.  Oh and grabbed ice cream again because I live dangerously when pregnant!

Tyler had to work for a few hours on Sunday so I went on an architectural boat tour of the city and Lake Michigan.  It was so neat and felt weird to do something like that alone since I'm usually toting 3 kids with me.

That night we went to another great dinner and hit the sack early since I had to be out of the hotel room early for my flight.  Again no luck remembering to take a picture in the daylight.

We loved Chicago and actually can't wait to take the kids when they are older.  There were so many great things to do and am excited to experience them with the kids.

Also, reconnecting with my hubby was so good and I can't wait to have the opportunity to do it again!

Fair and Fourth Birthday

Ryder turned 4 early in August.  His birthday always falls on the same weekend as our county fair and parade, and he choses to do those things instead of a big birthday party. We've been giving our kids a couple of choices for their birthday....either an outing, a small friend party, or a family party.  I realized we were doing all 3 and it ended up being too much for everyone.  We didn't just get to slow down and celebrate our kiddo and enjoy them.  It was a rushed filled week where everyone was stressed.

Ryder LOVES the fair and parade.  He talks about it all year.  He especially loves the parade because drums are his most favorite parade parts....well that and the candy of course.

I took the kids to the fair on a Thursday evening to avoid the crowds and it worked.  We didn't have to wait in line for anything and got to walk around and see all the animals.  They usually are not big enough to ride many rides and that held true for Ryder.  He was literally a half an inch to short for almost everything.  Rilyn was just tall enough to do everything so that was a little bit of a juggle. They each got a couple rides and we all rode the ferris wheel together.

Sawyer's favorite attraction was of course the tractor.  He loves machines!

I don't like rides so I had to put on brave mom face which I failed terribly at.  I mostly yelled at them not to move the entire time because I was so freaked out.   Which of course made Rilyn giddy with excitement that she could scare her mama the entire time.  Sawyer was a little nervous but is still talking about how high he went.

On Saturday, we hit up the parade.  I think it's a really great parade for a small town and the kids love going.  They literally end up with the same amount of candy as they do trick-or-treating.  

Sunday was Ryder's actual birthday so he woke up to lots of Spider-Man balloons and presents.  One of the puzzles he got from my parents he said he had been waiting for for 100 weeks.  He was so excited to get new puzzles, books, and legos.  Rilyn bought him a present with her own money this year and was so excited to give it to him.

That morning we had the Decker clan over for breakfast to celebrate all 3 Decker birthdays in August so Ryder got extra spoiled with grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles.  I didn't take too many pictures, but his new drum set was by far his most favorite part and it is currently in the garage where it might remain!  He also got a new bike but apparently still prefers his sister's old one which apparently doesn't have spiky pedals like the boy bike I bought him.  

We were able to have a quiet afternoon and take our boy out to dinner at his restaurant of choice.  Red Robin of course, because he gets a free ice cream.  Such a fun way to celebrate our big 4 year old!