a day in the life

First, let's just start off by taking a look at my kitchen counter. What's so special about it?... YOU CAN SEE IT. I figured I'd better archive such an accomplishment because it will not be this way in, ohhhh, 3 hours!

The kiddos didn't put up much of a fight this morning. They were quite on task (hence, "clean" kitchen). There was the usual goofing around and me threatening to separate them into different areas of the house... but overall, we got the job done.

Let's just take a minute to "ooo and ahhh" at the marvels of IKEA. Storage solutions like these actually make it so that I can tolerate my kitchen ALSO being a school room! I already have plans for a cubby unit along the backside of the kitchen counter. We're very cramped for space, so every trip to IKEA makes a huge difference! (like, my justification here?)

Sorry, Tess... math can't ALWAYS be fun! She loves schoolwork. I think it's because it all just comes easy to her (and I really should put her ahead but don't want her to WAY overshadow her big sister academically... ugh.... that's for another post...). But when the girl gets stuck on something she gets really frustrated. I need to be close at hand before she starts tearing at her page or writing angry notes in the corner!

All the while, Parker chills on his "reading pad" and plays Starfall on the computer. He's making his way slowly through the "Learn to Read" section. He spends most of the time clicking on the characters to see what cool things they do rather than actually learning to read. But... hey... every bit of exposure counts!

... and we finally finished decorating the Valentine Tree.
It's our goal to decorate this sad little tree for every upcoming event. We'll see how disciplined I can be with this! Next up, St. Patty's Day/Daddy's Birthday. They are already pretty excited about ways to display BOTH events on one tree!