Play Room/Guest Room Update

I "cleaned" and reorganized the playroom/guestroom recently. 

I painted some stripes, installed some bookshelves and made room for all the kids new birthday and hanukkah toys.

They have so much toys, all drawers under the bed are full of toys, the shelves in the closet are full and this is after I "purged".

 I really need a bigger playroom!

Here is what it looks like now:

Nursery in Master Bedroom

Our family is growing and I have to admit, we are running out of space in our small home.

We have three bedrooms and a bonus room/office.

The bonus room, is used as our office/homeschooling room 

Bedroom #1 is used as our playroom/guest room

Bedroom#2 is the shared kids bedroom

Bedroom#3 is our master bedroom

With baby number three on the way, I knew right away that baby would share a room with us (since we co-sleep till up to 2 years anyways!) And then he will move into a room with the other kids. 

 I am hoping by then, we move to a bigger house so I get to have a boys and girls room and still get to have a play room. I love having all the toys in a separate room, it really keeps the mess contained. 

But anyhow,  since baby is sharing a room with us, I still wanted to create a "space" for him, but I didn't want to make my master bedroom look like a nursery. 

Here is what I came up with:

I really liked the old lay out, but I needed the crib to be next to me so I can keep an eye on baby (to make sure he is still breathing- you know how it is with a new baby) 

So we had to move things around to make room for the crib. 

The old layout

Here are more pictures what our master bedroom looks like now. 

35 weeks pregnancy update

How far along:

36 weeks and 6 days!

 Our little boy will be here in 4 weeks!(give or take a bit.)

 I think we are almost ready for this little guy: clothes and cloth diapers are washed and put away, crib, car seat, stroller, baby rocker is ready. I also started throwing things together for my hospital bag.

Weight gain: 

32 pounds! 

Baby Growth:

Baby boy is about 18 inches long and weighs 5.25 pounds. 

Symptoms: 

Pelvic pain is pretty bad, but not as bad as it was a few days ago. It still hurts to walk, get out of bed, stand up and change sides in bed. However, a few days ago it was so bad, that I would cry. 

I also feel the babys head in the pelvis, and I feel and hear a grinding sound when he moves. 

I am waddling all the time because I feel that my pelvis is going to break and it hurts to walk. 

I have also been so TIRED lately. I can not imagine getting through the day without a nap. I feel shaky and if I don't lay down, I feel like I will collapse. But I am a mom of 2 little kids. I homeschool, and take care of them all day.

Work Box Wednesday KINDERGARTEN #3

Welcome to another work box wednesday!

My daughter is  6, and she is in Kindergarten. We use the curriculum from Heart of Dakota (Little hearts for his glory) But I also add a lot of extras. 

As usual, we start out our day with calendar time, weather chart, a sticker on my daughter 100 days of school chart and prayers. 

Her new packet is on top of her work boxes. 

I make a new packet for her each week, which she works on her own time. 

Then she brings me the packet the following Monday, we go through it together. Then she gets $1.

I was thinking of a way to give my daughter an allowance so she can learn about money management, but I did not want to give her money for chores, which she is expected to do anyways. 

This way she can do extra homework/reading that week, learn how to time manage (find the time to do her packet on her own time) and she learns how to manage her money. 

She just used her $10 recently for a tinker bell fairy and accessories, and is excited to get another fairy when she saves up more money. 

Here is the teacher manual with everything that needs to be done that day. 

Work box#1

Right now we are working on memorizing our address and phone number. 

Work box#2

We do bible time. We read the bible stories, sing the song from the lesson plan, work on memorizing the memory verse and recite the rhyme. 

All of this is part of the lesson plan for little hearts for his glory. 

Birchbox December 2013

I am always eagerly awaiting my monthly birchbox. It's like a little present for me every month.

Let me tell you what birch box is, just in case you are not familiar with it.

It's a monthly subscription service which is $10.00 a month where you get sent 4-5 high-end samples each month. First you take a little survey so they can find out more about your skin, make up likes and dislikes so they know what to send you.

You know how I love trying out new products? Well, with the birch box, I can try high end products without having to buy full size products. If I love the product, then I can go buy it :)

If you are interested in checking it out, go to Birch Box

Work Box Wednesday KINDERGARTEN #2

Welcome to another work box wednesday!

Lesson plan from Heart of Dakota:

We start with prayers, calendar time, and do the weather chart. 

Then we go on to the "bible" lesson plan of the Curriculum:

Bible story about how Jesus healed the sick, a chapter in Devotions for the Childrens hour about the Miracles of Jesus, we recite that weeks rhyme and work on memorizing the verse for that lesson plan, and we sing the song that is part of the lesson plan. 

This takes us about 20 minutes. 

Next we do spelling. 

This is NOT part of the curriculum, instead it is something I like to add. 

This is the book we use right now. I copy the pages and glue them into this spelling journal for her. 

That way I can reuse the book for my son, when he is ready for this. 

After spelling, we do geography. 

This is NOT part of the curriculum, instead it is something I like to add. 

This is the book we use. I copy the pages and put them into a binder for my daughter. 

She truly loves geography and gets so excited when she sees this binder in her work box.