The new 'normal'

The last couple of weeks have been a bit full on around here. It's been taking a little while for us all to adjust to school being at home again. The last time we did this I only had 1 other little person and no tantruming toddlers in sight! Jaden found the change all a bit overwhelming at first, getting used to doing schoolwork amidst 2 noisy girls, but I think we are finding our groove and things are starting to run a bit smoother. I found it hard to cope at first too. I would get to the end of each day and feel like someone sucked the life out of me and was wondering if I would have a nervous breakdown before we even got through term 1, but I am definately feeling more on top of things now. A big part of the problem was a lack of any 'me' time to recharge and also not communicationg well with Brett that I needed more help from him around the house with less time to get things done during the day, and he has since been incredibly helpful with that!! We've also realised how important it is to prioritise couple time in the mix as well and I am very much looking forward to a date night tomorrow night, the most exciting part is I have no idea where we're going cause Brett is organising it and he hasn't done this since our very first date!! :-)

The schoolwork is going well. I love the fact that each week's work for each subject is set out and we just work through it at our own pace, I supervise, help, encourage, mark some things, but ultimtaely i'm not the teacher and I'm finding that to be quite achievable. The picture above is some of Jaden's science work, he had to pick a planet to research and he chose Saturn. He decided to make the gassy planet by ripping up paper and sticking it on in tiny pieces so it didn't look solid. We still have to videotape him presenting his findings and are planning to do that tomorrow. He has also been writing a narrative, writing poems, doing some beautiful handwriting, learning about the gold rush, doing maths and enjoying doing art among many other things. The art lesson for last week was linked with the science lesson about space, so he made a rocket and had fun blending chalks. As for social things we have booked in for some home schooling excursions that Jaden is very much looking forward to and will be joining in with some park days with other home schoolers when that starts back up next term.

 Now that the initial shock of all of a sudden having 3 kids at home all day has worn off I am actually really enjoying the more relaxed pace of life and that we have more family time. The kids are loving all being together!

I found this very cute snuggly sight the other morning when I emerged from the bathroom, they were all cuddling and watching sesame street, too cute!!

Little miss Elora is pushing this stroller and many other things all around the place and is also standing on her own for a few seconds at a time, I don't think walking is very far away!

Little Bethy seems like such a big girl now. She loves to draw and do puzzles and matching games and when we go to play group she gets right into the craft and paints!! I am not game to pull out the paints at home yet cause I can just see chaos erupting if my bubba tries to get in on the action, maybe in a few months time :-)

Speaking of my bubba she will be 1 next month, so I got all inspired last week and got my creative juices flowing to make some ladybug invitations for her birthday party. It's a garden theme lunch.

Here's what's hiding under the wings (with my address and phone number part covered up so that random people in the internet don't know where I live LOL)

And I even decorated the envelopes using my butterfly punch and my 'garden whimsy' stamp set that i've been dying to christen when I found the time!

So this is now our new 'normal'. School at home, 3 kids playing together, slower pace of life and a very busy mumma who when I get past myself realises how much I enjoy spending so much time with  my precious little people ( and not so little cause Jaden is nealy as tall as me LOL). Unfortuantely this season also means a bit more chaos in the house, esepcially with a 10 1/2 month old cyclone who enjoys pulling everything off shelves and out of toyboxs, but I have decided to just go with the flow and embrace the chaos, at least it's a sign that fun was had in this house today!! :-)

And I had to add this pic just because Bethy looks so cute ( and I love the stripey stockings she has on although you can't see them all that well in the picture, they were some groovy hand me downs!)