Weekends are too short

What is it about weekends that makes you feel like you must accomplish something?! God should have called for two days of rest, since Sunday morning consists of rushing around to eat, shower, dress 4 kids, get myself dressed and pretty, and out the door in time to get to church. THEN, by the time you're out of church you need to drive home, get clothes changed for all 6 of us, get lunch rolling while somehow nursing the baby and breaking up fights over whose stuff is whose, and then eating. Next thing you know we are remembering we need clean clothes for the new week and wondering what's for dinner!

Anyway, since that is our "day of rest", I figure Saturday is "sleep in, eat at restaurants, no dishes and nap time" kind of day! My hubby however sees it as "get yard work, garage organizing, sorting and chores done" kind of day. 

I get it, I do, we need to get these things done, and Sunday has about one hour of actual rest, but honestly, when DO moms get a break!?! The answer my dears, is 2031! When my baby boy is 18 I will be 51 years old! No way am I waiting that long! Lol so we figure out how to make chores fun family time, my hubby lets me sleep in Saturday and I give him Sunday, and after the weeds are pulled, the laundry dome and the kids all fed...we hae an amazing moment to share with our kids...the ice cream man came down the street!

They got to run out and pay a man to hand them ice cream, right in front of their house...what a wonderful world!

Adventure is out there!

Well we ended up in a tire predicament as my minivan wobbles down the road on bald tires, my hubby's car gets a flat! Go figure! So we and needed to get 3 new tires for our minivan and 4 new for the hubby's car (so much for building a savings!) 

After calling around we found the best option (with the help of my dad) and made our appointment for this morning and headed out bright and early.

I had fun reminiscing in the tire store, having grown up with my dad working in tires stores and the like. That smell...fresh rubber tires...such a huge part of my childhood memories! 

I was just telling my dad yesterday how I used to think that the little rubber "hairs" on brand new tires we OBVIOUSLY what went missing when a tire was declared "bald"! Made since to me! And the first thing my six year old says when I'm showing hima tire on the rack? "This one's almost bald!" I love my son!!!

Since it would be about 45 minutes, we took an impromptu safety field trip! 

Lessons on "ditches at deadly" as we walked alongside the arroyo along with how to use a crosswalk and safely cross major streets, it was quite an adventure!

We ended at the best possible field trip destination...Starbucks!

Even the kids enjoyed the adventure of going INSIDE! (Such a treat to exit the vehicle for coffee now a days)

Yes, mom got them chocolate milk...spoiled!!

Finally we headed back and collected our wonderfully smooth rides with one more lesson about shadows! 

What an fun and productive adventure!

Preparation Begins

As we near the beginning of the 2014–15 school year, preparation begins in our homeschooling home. We've cleared out all of the street papers broken crayons, and old workbooks as we open the box and pull out all the fresh new workbooks for everyone's new year. 

This is the first year of having three students at the table, as our three year old will begin with part time preschool curriculum along side the bigger kids. It presents a challenge, but an exciting one! As we pull out the crisp, new, shiny books, the kids are super excited, and already my kindergartner to be has flipped through half of her books and looked at every single picture. With cubbies full of new books 

and mom's shelf covered in teacher manuals all I can think is… I need more shelves!! ;)

So my next project will be putting up a shelf or two (which I have prepped for installation right next to the cabinets) so I can have a little more space to organize my "teacher stuff" and still have space for all the "craft stuff". 

When I was younger, and without children, I had this idealistic plan of keeping craft supplies always on hand at kid level...accessible...so my children would never have to ask if they could do crafts. However, every very time I leave markers, scissors or glue down for little fingers to grab, my unattended munchkins will inevitably color, cut or paste something in a permanent and destructive manner, making mommy sad. I have therefore put away that idea and accepted that I DO need shelving up high...super high...and to keep craft time supervised...for now. Maybe we'll revise this in a few years when the older kids are old enough to help keep the chaos to a minimum...not today, oh no, not today!

And so, with the start of the school year looming ahead of us, I get more and more excited...my favorite part...the endless possibilities!