Easter is coming!

I've had a lovely Sabbath day with my two little puppy dogs. Sacrament was manageable but not perfect. We went over time by a bit but I managed to keep the puppies happy with some stories I read to them quietly. Sooooo nice they love books!

Well this morning I happen to mention Easter and Asher said, "I love Easter mummy" and I said "do you know what Easter is?" and he giggled and said no. So this week I'm going to start preparing for this sacred holiday. I want to put in as much effort and thought as I do for Christmas because clearly these are special seasons of remembering the Saviour and we can get mostly consumed by all,the chocolate!

Some things I want to do are:
Have an Easter advent calendar with scripture stories
Make an Easter tree - have done this now for the past 3 years
Make clay egg ornaments for tree - incorporate words of the Saviour
Make an Easter wreath
Send Easter cards to grandparents and cousins
Prepare an Easter egg hunt with friends/family
Have a family Easter brunch with the missionaries - 2nd year running
Watch an Easter kids movie - Hop
Do Easter crafts with kiddos, find in the Friend magazine
Easter reading, unwrap one each day if theres enough Easter or rabbit themed books in our library
Visit the temple gardens with boys
Take Asher to pick a store bought Easter decoration to add upon each year
Attend General Conference weekend - have a Sunday evening Easter devotional
Decorate our house as tastefully as possible without missing the true meaning of Easter

All of this is to occur before our third baby arrives which is in about 3 weeks. I have decided themed school time will be put aside while we focus on Easter. I hope I can do well and the boys get something from this. All in all I want this time to be another tradition we cherish, building beautiful memories as a family. I hope that these boys will remember the feelings of love such traditions instill within a family. I want them to have a good feeling of the home they grew up in when they look back on these times. And then I want those feelings to still be there when our children and grown and parents of their own when they come back and visit the family home.

I have had a lovely few days with our boys being such a joy. Still tears, still fights and many tantrums but the highs have been flowing well and truly. Just last night Asher and I stayed up and watched Beauty and the Beast. He loved that special time with me. Then we got a quiet moment together after church while we ate a simple lunch. He was adorable and I was capturing his innocence and purity. I was staring at his big eyelashes and all his features just feeling blessed he is my child.

I also had a moment like that with the baby Jet, later in the day. He was repeatedly giving me cuddles and just wanting to giggle and smile and again I took in every detail of his face and my whole body felt warm.

I am now due to have another child in a very short time. People will say you're crazy for going for number three, and all I can think of now is why wouldn't you! Seeing my three year old talk and express love for me daily is an incredible feeling. He is powerful and I often don't like being around him because of his intensity, but seeing things come good from the efforts I have made with that child is an incredible feeling no one can take away from me. A child who tells me that he loves me, or that I'm his best friend or that he thinks I'm pretty on so many occasions throughout the day, is something that I do not want to be missing out on. He is learning love and trust from me and I am amazed how much this affects him. I'm learning even more so into other research I have done how this will affect him as an adult an overall as a human being.  My influence for good is reaching so far even if it is just within the walls of this home.

I love my babies, and love that I get to again teach them about the Saviour through the season of Easter.

How far we've come

I can't believe that I've almost been doing weekly pre school with Asher now for three months! That is amazing and I can see a difference in how we all feel, there's a point to our day and we get to spend good times together. Just this week I have been able to see the fruit of my labours. Asher recited the alphabet and also memorised the first article of faith. He has only begun big primary this year and already knows it, that makes me very happy and I can see he can focus and learn. These little achievements mean a lot. When I think I'm failing in most areas(house tidy, gourmet meals, behaviour etc.) I realise that I'm not actually doing all that bad, in fact I'm doing well. I love this job of being a mother and Asher has made me realise that.

When he said the article of faith I kissed and hugged him so much and was over the moon happy that he just wanted to keep saying it over and over. That just again shows me how much he wants to please and wants to be approved. It was a really good insight to my attitude toward him.

Another success this week has been implementing "the puppy award". Asher loves pretending to be a puppy, so when I found a reward certificate online called the puppy award I thought this just might work. All this week he has been doing his jobs around the house and it has been a great result for him to see me ticking off the chart. He just wants to keep getting more ticks and get that award. I have been so thrilled with seeing that he CAN do all this, that is, listen to an instruction and follow through with simple responsibilities. Each day our routine is: toy room free play, breakfast, get dressed brush teeth then Sesame Street before heading to the gym and out and about for the day. Evening is Play School at 4:30 dinner at 5:15 then before bath both boys put away all toys and straighten up toy room and rest of the house. Now these kids are 3.5 and 18 months old and they do it! This is teaching them more then just obeying me, but to care for the things we have and helping mummy shows you love her.

After bath, bed time routine is pretty easy I'm happy to say. I am always exhausted but I'm glad everything is in place and there's not usually a drama. 6pm we get out of the bath and into pjs and we head into ashers room for story time. I will read one book then just have a rest in there with them while the boys read book after book after book. This is a nice way to end the day for me and them. By ten to seven its goodnight. They brush teeth and Asher uses the bathroom and I leave his door open while he drifts off to sleep. He DOES NOT get out of his room which is lovely, he just likes to hear that I am still close by. I can do the dishes then watch a bit of TV and he just stays there quietly.  This works because he knows if he made a sound or did get up I would just close the door which he hates...he only tried this once and never has since.

The reason I'm going on about these good points of my kids is that often I never really reflect on them, just the hard stuff - tantrums, hyper active behaviour and how tired I am all the time. I'm glad I've found the goodness amongst the other.

I love my boys, I love that we are about to enjoy another baby and that we are a happy family. Isn't that just what everyone is looking for, to be happy.

On a final note, this week I've had discouraging input from family who don't think that me putting mothering before a career is what I should be doing. It's sad to say that I get this a lot from my family, close family too. There really is a lack of understanding on what I do all day and why I do it. Comments such as, you're not exercising your brain enough, come when they think all I do is baby talk and play with my children....I think I get negative talk from my family every week or whenever we catch up. It is hard to hear that and not let it play on your mind.

But then I refocus and consider the reasoning behind suc comments. Maybe they want what I have, maybe they wish they had of had the family that I have chosen to have, or maybe they just think they know better. It is seriously difficult when every decision is judged, from how I discipline to how tidy I keep the house. ENOUGH!  I will strive not to harp on it but to keep being an example and these little ones are going to be the best thing to prove it was all worth it.

Gardening

Play school episodes are all about gardening this week, and the week started off with some lovely rain. I got to talk to Asher about what plants need to grow and he was interested to know they need food and water just like us, and the Sun!

One morning we just sat in the toy room reading "the little red hen" such a good book about gardening and things growing. We then pretended to be seeds and grew tall into flowers/plants/wheat, Asher loved acting this out.

I took the boys to the huge Bunnings near our place and roamed around the gardening section while my two little puppy dogs scooted about with the kids trolleys, they are in love with them. We got to see ride on lawn mowers for sale too, then walked around the BBQ section an Asher was telling us how they all worked. When it was time to go there was a huge meltdown from them both....so draining but I'm glad I took them still.

Asher recited his ABCs this week and it was so cute. I recently hung the alphabet in our dining room so with every meal we say the alphabet, and looks like he completely know it. That's fantastic to me, for such an active little boy who I thought would take so long to focus and learn.

We did letter craft with food colouring paint and bits of glitter, this was a hit and I really love the pages I found online for these letters.

We played with our alphabet book and puzzle and little baby even had a turn at singing the alphabet...so cute that he only knows how to say B and just mumbles everything else in a singing voice :)

Machines

If I remember right I think Asher hugged me when I told him we would be learning about Machines for school time this week. Boy does that kid love machines.

One morning the boys just watched how our washing machine works and sat there for a long time as it went through the different steps in the cycle. This was fantastic to talk about machines!

Daddy also took the boys for a walk and came upon a construction site with a huge digger and bob cat. They loved watching them work and Asher mimicked with his hand how the digger scooped up the dirt. I loved seeing how happy this made him. Not happy when it was time to go though...

I opened up daddy's tool box one day and let them both just go for it. I got Asher to hammer with real nails into a milk bottle, it was so nice to see his enjoyment. He spoke very properly to his brother telling him exactly what he was doing...very cute.

We spent an afternoon outdoors in our play kitchen in the garden, the boys got busy filling pots and pans up with water and transferring dirt and water into different containers, such a busy little kitchen it was.

I set up the boys diggers one morning along with different bits of play dough and scrunched up alfoil to be as a pretend quarry. Asher liked this but I thought it would be more of a hit then it was.

I also got out daddy's spare headset and had a decent play session of airports :)

There was lots of reading as I found a couple of very factual books on diggers and tractors...each page was detailed with how each machine operated. These kind of books have always been his favourite.

Music

It's always hard to introduce school time while daddy is home. This music theme had so much potential, but then lots of distractions came up. We managed to do letter V craft, for violin, watched an orchrestra online and spoke about all the different sounds the instruments made, and we also played a hearing game, where you take turns being blind folded then listen to an instrument being played then you have to guess it. Asher loves this, especially being blind folded. I did manage to also do a milk/food colouring/dish liquid experiment which was a hit. The colours blending were mesmorizing for asher. That was pretty much it, I didn't get any library books on our theme and then things just faded. Will try to pick it up again next week.

Day and Night

I have missed a few school theme posts, and finding it not as easy to navigate from my phone since the Galazy died. New phone is just not as flash. Oh well, so here is our day and night themed week...

I have found the best way to reinforce what we are focusing on is with books as Asher just loves reading. Isn't that incredible, I suppose all young children do but I'm so happy he really really loves books. He can seriously be satisfied with a pile of books for up to an hour, that is amazing. So these little readers I found at the library have almost every pre school theme imaginable and day and night was in there. It was quite long but everyday he would read it and would barely let his brother as much as touch the cover...still working on sharing. The book had great pictures of what animals are awake during the day and the ones awake at night. This was surprisingly helpful as we have possums stomping around on our roof which makes little boy scared, so learning that they are just awake doing their thing (and not monsters) settled ashers fears. I managed to get a book on owls also and he loved reading it to his baby brother.

I set up some black construction paper one morning along with some white chalk and glitter glue pens for him to make his own night time picture. He stayed with this for some time which means success! We also had a turn at a day time picture, drawing birds and trees and garbage trucks, as they come visit sooooo early at our place. Every Wednesday morning the day starts just that little bit earlier as they wake us all up.

Everyday Asher recognised what we had been learning for the week and would say randomly, "we're learning about day and night today"....then one evening before bed he yelled mummy look its the moon! It was huge and very bright and actually out quite early so we got daddy's telescope out to have a look. Silly me couldn't figure out how to work it so it was just a bit of a pretend astronomy lesson :) Asher loved looking as much as he did anyway.

We played with bi carb and vinegar again, little boy loves this activity and he is always there for ages!

At the end of the week I took the boys to the planetarium. It was a pretty cool place, lots of astranaut set ups and pictures of planets and the moon. We watched a brief film on rockets and going into space. There wasn't a lot of serious educating going on, more just running around looking at things, but that was ok.

This has been a fun theme and in the end turned into including space. I'd like to incorporate more specific goals with each theme, although its play school, I would love to see some more focus on things like shapes numbers letters words/reading etc. But I am finding Asher to enjoy each theme I introduce so the more I bog him down with "work" and not play, I think I might loose him. Have to just see how things go.

Bugs

 

BUGS	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Table Time (letters/math)	Salt-tray writing		Learn how to spell Asher	Make a snail from playdoh, make a caterpillar	Incy Wincy spider singing
Craft	Spaghetti spider web and handprint spider	Make a paper plate frog, hand prints as feet and long red tongue	Bottle top bugs	Make a peg dragonfly by twisting cellophane in the middle of a peg. Use egg cartons to make bugs, add pipe cleaners and decorate with textas.	Draw a garden with spiders, ants, butterflies, caterpillars, snails and asher to tell a story about his picture
Game/Activity	Hide and seek toy insects around the house - use magnify glass to find them	Playtime with daddy	Read and act out the hungry caterpillar		Act out different creatures - frog, snake, bird, spider
Outdoor	Explore at the park	kindy	Family Outing	kindy

 

Book of the week - The Hungry Caterpillar

This week we did find that there were a lot more spontaneous activities that popped up - for example one day Asher just asked if he could do some cooking as he saw me making dinner in the kitchen - and he kept asking  for his own ingredients (like from last week's five senses theme). So he and Jet sat and made their own concoctions of spices and playdoh! It was great to see their imagination and here asher's dialogue to himself as he was playing. It is messy and takes effort but I like the pros better then the cons.

We managed to take the boys on a bush walk at the end of the week...first off it didn't begin so well as asher had a big fall and then spent the rest of the walk in pain being a decent graze to his knee. Come to think of it I don't think in his 3 and a half years of life he has ever grazed his knee which bled so it was a bit of a big deal although i know this is what will be the norm for the rest of their lives as these boys are serious dare devils! On the walk we were able to listen to the noises of the bush and asher spotted lots of insects included a jumping spider on the ground that I have no idea how he could see as it was so tiny. The hike ended with a picnic by a little stream and some rock throwing as per usual between asher and daddy - asher always wants daddy to find the biggest rocks ever to throw into water...and johnny being johnny is totally up for the challenge. These boys are seriously lucky to have a dad like him because he really loves to just get down and play with them - no matter what it is he's up for it. Such a good daddy! I'm all crafty and educational focussed and he's the playful one - so I'm learning to take a leaf out of his book. The baby is a little scared of wildlife as we had some close encounters with a few bush turkeys. Asher rescued us and chased them away though...it was a great way to end our bug themed week and again another lovely memory to add. It also was part of our summer bucket list so we have done well!!

One afternoon we took the boys for trip on the free city ferry we have - asher loves boats and water - but he was out of sorts as it was after he had spent the day at kindy. Probably tired and needing to just have some down time...in the end we grabbed a half price dinner that we usually go to - healthy foccacia toasted sandwiches...so yummy! The ferry ride home was a bit better but he was just too excited and didn't want to sit down although that was the rule. Jet on the other hand was just taking it all in as we floated along the water. We got to see lots of tall city buildings and go under the huge bridge - both boys loved looking up underneath - it was a very cheap easy outing - even better when toddlers aren't tired and cranky.

We made bugs out of pipe cleaners and egg cartons to start the week off and I was really surprised by how long this kept asher engaged - he did really well. I also laid out some construction paper for asher to tell me what kind of bugs he wanted in his garden. I drew them with textas and gave asher some crafty supplies to decorate his bugs with. It ended up being a few pages of lots and lots of bugs, and I couldn't believe how long he kept at it - almost a whole hour all up. I thought that was an achievement. This involves me sitting there with him for the hour - not me getting an hour to myself - but that outcome is incredible as normally he would be bouncing to another thing in 30 seconds.

We were able to take a nice quiet walk to a near by playground one morning and on our walk I talked with the boys about which bugs or insects they thought might live at our park. When we got there, a nice bunch of different birds came by to say hello - I had made some snacks so they were eyeing them off - but on a few occassions we got to see a couple of birds dig around in the grass for food which led to a discussion on what birds eat - bugs! We saw a magpie grab what looked like a worm, or something bug like and fly away with it in his mouth. It was pretty cool to have the boys see that. After play time for a bit we went exploring around the park as it is by a stream with lots of trees and shrubs. We found a pretty large dead spider which Asher got so excited over as he could see everything up close without the thing running away. A walk to the park is so simple but can be very tiring for mummy's but I'm glad I did it. Both boys were walking on their own so didn't involve me pushing a pram up the and through the hills in our neighbourhood. They were both beat by the time we got home and that worked for me as nap time was easy. I'm happy to say that at 3 and a half years old,  asher does well to take a 2 hour nap every day plus then goes on to sleep almost 12 hours each night. Jet being so young does the same but that's just what I would expect but for asher to keep at it with the day time nap is heavenly! I bet as soon as this baby arrives he won't be so good at it. He will be 3 months off 4 years old and really nap time should be dropping by then - but I know that I can get him to stay in his bedroom and read books for an hour and then have a reward of his favourite show afterwards, that he will do it. Of all the things that I find challenging in his personality there are soooo many good things like this, that I am thankful for. Every mother needs naptime each day just to breathe, have a quiet lie down or just be by herself. Well if not every mother - definitely this mother.

I randomly found some good interactive books this week while waiting in line at the post office. They were an alphabet book and a counting book - but what made me purchase them was that with each book came a set of magnets - of all the alphabet and then of all numbers up to 10. So on each page the idea is to locate the letter/number and then place it in the correct spot. I really liked them and happen to find asher had already started to give it a go when i found the book amongst his others a few days after I had bought it home. The alphabet book is all in lower case - Asher already knows all of the upper case alphabet - but hasn't fully grasped lower case as yet so this is perfect. He also knows all his numbers but both books are going to be useful to little Jet, he also has started to give the matching a go and got a couple right...probably just a fluke, but to have him see and hold the letters is a good thing as his recognition is beginning.

I managed to get to the library during the week and found some different insect books including a couple on frogs, one about a lizard and one on the rainforest. One morning the boys jumped in our bed and we had a reading fest of all the new library books I picked up. It was sooo nice to be together and daddy was home! I have said in the past how much asher loves books and how he is truly engaged when we read them to him. He isn't running off and being loud - he is actually sitting nice and still and questioning what is on each page and just loves it. I am very thankful for his love of books and how this is an activity I know that will work - it is also going to be very beneficial when it does come time to when school starts. I know that he can sit still and that means everything! The books fascinated both boys and with each turn of the page Jet was saying 'animal' to everything - frog, lizard, bug - everything. It was very cute.

Today we went to the gym - saturday morning aqua aerobics is the best! Then we usually stop by a park or the grocery store on the way home. I had grocery shopped the night before so the park it was. We were lucky enough to stumble upon a free bouncing castle and sausage sizzle that was set up in aid of a political campaign in our area...happy as anything were the boys to join in and hey I didn't have to make lunch! This particular playground is a favourite as there is a pirate ship sort of set up. Asher loved pretending to be a pirate and acting out what a pirate would do. Underneath is a pretend cash register and counter for the kids to play shop - Asher managed to turn the shop into a train station where people were coming and buying tickets off him - I love to see how he can imagine simple things - this is all part of him learning and growing. Gives me lovely feelings especially when he is getting on well with the other children in his space!

Again we have really done a lot when you look back at it for this week, and there's always more that goes on that doesn't get a mention - the boys helping daddy mow our massive back yard, visiting grandparents and having play dates come over. This house is always alive and kicking.