"Extenda" Day!

A perfect representation of Leia Rose on her first day of "Extenda" Day!!! She has been waiting for this day for a whole year, and her smile sure shows her joy! Here she is proudly displaying her Disney Princess lunchbox and her shirt from Hershey PA. Extended Day at Artgarden means that, when the other kids leave at 11:45, Leia Rose stays to eat her lunch and do some more intense academic "works" until 2. Later I would ask her what it felt like (and if it felt strange), and she replied, "It felt just like happiness!!!"

"Mamma! We used the sunflower napkins I brought today! Mrs. Schnell and Mrs. McDowell ate lunch too! . . . but they don't live at school. And the gold beads [the units] weren't out yet, . . . but the plus one was! Those are the number rods that you put them together and find out how much they make. And Mamma, why does the word 'number' have a 'brrrrr' at the end of it?" This last point led to the joke Leia Rose created at the end of the post.

Annie had her own extended day, . . . with Mamma. This morning we worked on musical instruments. Playing each one in turn. One of her favorites was the drum (even though she was more excited to simply hit the sticks together). She also enjoyed the xylophone a lot, . . . following the tradition in our family of children sucking on the "bonger." (I think it's supposed to be called a "mallet," but it'll always be a "bonger" for me.)

Often, you'll hear me talk about "staring into space." This is Annie doing just that. Instruments strewn all around her, getting tired. : )

And at lunchtime Annie perfected the art of the snack trap! : )

When Leia Rose returned home, we spent lots of time working on Leia's book called The Dinosaurs Stories. She decided to make it cost $4. ; ) Here she is working on the cover art. It's a parsauralophus and you can see the figure she's using as a model set up right in front of her. Such dedication!

And let me just say, with the advent of Extended Day comes the advent of what I would call "The Perfect Schedule": alone time with Annie, alone time with Leia, alone time for . . . Mamma.

7:00 - All of us awaken and eat breakfast while listening to "Good Morning Songs."

8:10 - Leia is off to school with Daddy.

8:10 - 10:00 - Alone time with Annie for developmental play and fun!

10:00 - 11:30 - Annies first nap (time for Mamma to get stuff done)!

11:30-12:30 - Lunchtime

12:30 - 1:30 - Fall bikeride

1:30 - 2:30 - Pick Leia up from Artgarden.

3:00 - 4:30 - Annie's second nap, . . . alone time with Leia!

4:30 - 5:30 - Sister play (or Baby Einstein DVD if everyone's grumpy) while I make dinner.

5:30 - 6:00 Dinner

6:00 - 6:30 Family prayer/Bible time

6:30 - 7:30 Annie's bath and bed.

7:30 - 8:30 Leia's bath and bed.

[I better not get used to it, though, because who knows when Annie will drop her first nap.] : )

And here's one of Leia's best jokes. In case you aren't able to see the video, it goes like this: "Why did the 3 want to play in the snow? Because he's a numberrrrrrrr!" She created it on the way home in the car, and she went through all the numbers from 1 - 10 and tried to create a joke for each. Like, "Why was 1 shivering?" or "Why did 2 want to go sledding?" or "Why did 4 have frostbite?" or "Why did 5 like winter?" and so on.