Update: Part 3

1. Laundry closet cleaned out, upper shelf organized for linens/sheets. DONE
2. Hallway closet cleaned out, reorganized for board games and school supplies instead of linens. DONE
3. Kids toys moved into their new room, organized on shelves. DONE
4. Noah's clothes moved into Katie's closet with new closet organizer rods in place. DONE
5. "Playroom" reorganized into baby storage space with extra bed set up. DONE
6. Our closet cleaned out and reorganized. DONE
7. Our bedroom completely cleaned out and readied for painting. DONE
8. Paint our bedroom and bathroom. half DONE

Look at all the stuff that is DONE on our list! YAY!  But how is it that we still have what seems like a million things left to do?!?!?! ha ha.

We JUST got the bedroom furniture set up in the baby room.  It looks so beautiful!  Corey and I are both having last minute panic about "she" turning out to be a "he" but it's probably just finding something to worry about.
I'm not sure the bathroom is going to get painted/done before she gets here.  But our bedroom looks so much better with the fresh beige covering the marker scribbles that Noah bestowed upon them as a toddler.

Time to move on to a new to-do list:

1. Get all the baby stuff organized in the baby room.
2. Buy stuff needed still on our must have list. (changing pad for dresser, robe for me, nursing bra, replacement parts for breast pump)
3. Get bags packed for me, baby, and kids.
4. Buy supplies we/I need to have on hand post partum at home. (assorted pharmacy and Walmart items)
5. Get the flower bed area in the front yard presentable for post baby visitation.
6. Wash baby supplies (esp the cloth diapers) to have ready when we get home from the hospital.
7. Finish getting house deep cleaned and keep it up! ha!
8. Get sheets for the bed in the baby room!

Side list (need to accomplish but not urgent)
1. Get Katie's costume together for her play at the end of May.
2. Get homeschool stuff/records from this year put away and stock cart with next year's supplies.

Giveaway!

My online friend is hosting a Giveaway of a great scrapbooking album that is the easiest kind in the world to do!  Go enter!!! And if you win, then you can pass it on to me! HA HA HA HA!

CLICK HERE to visit the Unworking Mom and enter the giveaway.  HURRY the contest ends tonight!

Update: Part 2

1. Laundry closet cleaned out, upper shelf organized for linens/sheets. DONE
2. Hallway closet cleaned out, reorganized for board games and school supplies instead of linens. DONE
3. Kids toys moved into their new room, organized on shelves. DONE
4. Noah's clothes moved into Katie's closet with new closet organizer rods in place. DONE
5. "Playroom" reorganized into baby storage space with extra bed set up.
6. Our closet cleaned out and reorganized. DONE
7. Our bedroom completely cleaned out and readied for painting. mostly done
8. Paint our bedroom and bathroom.

WOW!  Okay, so the two more things we've done....#6 and #3 are BIGGIES!  I just this evening finished reorganizing all their stuff from the other room...into their new combined room.  It was a tight fit, but it seems everything finally has a place.  A few things boxed up to take to Meme and Grandpa's house, and a few things going out the door to donate, and a few things set aside for a yard sale.  It's all still in the house, but it isn't piled up in their room anymore. 
The goal is to get #7 done before Saturday, and # 5 and #8 done on Saturday.
I am so excited!  Even though the house is a complete and total wreck because the hallway and extra room and living room all have "stuff" that was cleaned out during these projects...all we have to do is get IT to where it needs to go, whether Goodwill, or downstairs for the yard sale, etc....at least it is out of the crammed up closets!
There IS a light at the end of this tunnel!  And hopefully we'll reach it Saturday!
Then, I can get to the fun part, which is prepping the baby supplies (washing, folding, storing), and packing some stuff for Delivery Day!

Update

Well, we've had part of two weekends to work on some projects.  It is very slow going.  Here's what we have accomplished so far:

1. Laundry closet cleaned out, upper shelf organized for linens/sheets. DONE
2. Hallway closet cleaned out, reorganized for board games and school supplies instead of linens. DONE
3. Kids toys moved into their new room, organized on shelves. Kind of
4. Noah's clothes moved into Katie's closet with new closet organizer rods in place. DONE
5. "Playroom" reorganized into baby storage space with extra bed set up.
6. Our closet cleaned out and reorganized.
7. Our bedroom completely cleaned out and readied for painting. partially done
8. Paint our bedroom and bathroom.

I have accomplished another goal which wasn't included in the original list.  I've cleaned out from under and cleaned out both bathroom vanities (well, Corey did one) and now have towels and washcloths stored under them. I also cleaned out a shower that we weren't using in our bathroom that had become the cleaning supply closet, ha ha.  We also cleaned the junk out of our bedroom but did not get to the closet.  The extra stuff that needed to go to the basement was moved out and some furniture moved around so we have room for the co-sleeper.  Number 5 on the list is getting closer.  The toy reorganization is extremely slow going.  And Corey will need help moving all the furniture out of that room before we can set up the extra bed.

Only 7 more weeks till due date time! Which means.....about 5 more weeks to get this stuff done!

Scripture, etc.

I haven't updated my scripture memory in a while because I am STUCK on this passage!  I don't know why it is so difficult, but the phrasing keeps getting me confused.  So, I'm still working on the one from the second half of January.  Since it is three verses perhaps I'll console myself with the fact that it will just take me three halves of a month to get it, ha ha.  But, that would mean I gotta have it down in....six more days. (edited: I just went to change my sidebar and realized it's already been 3 halves of a month.  Oh well)  Maybe I'll try teaching it to the kids, that usually helps me learn something.  They are pretty quick at memorizing.
Speaking of months...it's only six more days until it has been an entire month of no updating on this blog.  I've been updating the baby blog weekly though.
We're plugging along in finishing up our school year.
We are making next to NO progress on any house projects in preparation for Ruby.  I am simply and completely lacking motivation.  I guess I feel like I don't want it to get done too early, HA! Then it will have a chance to get messed up again.
Here's what we need to get done:

1. Laundry closet cleaned out, upper shelf organized for linens/sheets.
2. Hallway closet cleaned out, reorganized for board games and school supplies instead of linens.
3. Kids toys moved into their new room, organized on shelves.
4. Noah's clothes moved into Katie's closet with new closet organizer rods in place.
5. "Playroom" reorganized into baby storage space with extra bed set up.
6. Our closet cleaned out and reorganized.
7. Our bedroom completely cleaned out and readied for painting.
8. Paint our bedroom and bathroom.

Hmmm....doesn't seem like quite as much with it only being 8 things.  BUT, so many of those things involve cleaning "out" and "organizing" which involves a whole lot of dragging out of huge messes and stuff.  Time consuming.
OH, and our neighborhood is having a yard sale April 9th, so I want to be ready for that also.  We basically just need to pull out some stuff from the basement and throw it on the driveway, ha ha.
Not to mention that there are a few to do things on my personal list, like pack my bag for the hospital, order the supplies I want for post-partum, make an Ipod playlist for labor on Corey's Ipod, and also pack bags for the kids for their time away from home when Ruby is born.
Wow...so much to do!  And only 8-10 more weeks to do it!  Actually, we need to be ready in about 7 weeks just in case.

Projects

 Katie and Noah went to spend some Christmas money this past weekend after our very long Babies R Us outing.  Noah chose a building set...the one above.

Katie picked a cooking set for her American Girl doll.

Here's Katie with some of the baked goodies.

 I wanted to share these pics of the project that Noah built with his kit.

 It's a toolbox.

The kit uses heavy duty foam and sturdy plastic nails and screws, tools, etc.

 He measured, sawed, hammered, and built this toolbox pretty much completely on his own! I was so proud.

 I highly recommend this brand of toy building kits.  It was fun for him and he was so proud!

School Update

 Time for a school update!  

As of next week, we will be finished with our third nine weeks of study for 2010/2011!

I just finished writing out the lesson plans for the final semester.  We are on schedule to finish the week before Easter, right on time!!!! Ruby is expected to arrive less than a month after.  Could it be any more perfect?!

In other exciting school news....

Today I was able to order all the curriculum for next year! As soon as it arrives I can start getting that first nine weeks planned out so we won't delay.  I will have my hands very full this summer, so having everything ready and planned will be a huge help!

I was able to get *every single thing* on my school wish list today! YAY!

 We will be diving into some good history/geography this year with Sonlight History/Geography 1.

This is an introduction to World History.  We will use a timeline and figures along with the studies and will cover things like ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece, Europe, Africa, India, and China.

I had put off really  getting deep into a History curriculum until this coming year on purpose.

I wanted to get the basics of reading/writing down well first.  Sonlight subjects are very heavy as well, so waiting until Noah was more able to listen and pay attention was important.

 Sticking with Math-U-See!

Still totally loving this math program!

Katie is moving on this 9 weeks actually...up to Gamma and the beginning of multiplication.

Gamma is a very heavy year content wise, so I plan on taking plenty of time to master each thing.  It will probably take this next 9 weeks of introduction plus the entire third grade year to get through this one.

Noah will still be working through Beta, which he just began. They are both doing so great with math and I give all credit to this program..it is awesome.

 We ordered the Picture Smart Bible program to use also.  We will most likely use this as an evening devotional learning time as a family.  We've gotten kind of boring with our evening devotion time, so hoping this will mix it up and we will certainly learn a ton!  Check out THIS LINK to see more about it.  Basically you go through the books of the Bible by drawing a master picture that includes basic elements from that book of the Bible...symbols, main verses, etc.  Drawing helps you remember what you learned.  It looks like so much fun.  This was a bonus *wish list* item that I had wanted to get last year, but we finally are able to get it!

 Last year we used the birds, magnets, astronomy units from this science company.  This year we are getting "microscopic explorations, insects, and light" units.  I actually love the science classes offered at the Education Play Station where Katie is now taking Zoology, and Noah is taking a combo science class.  Hopefully they can continue taking classes there, but these units will fill in the gaps of time in between and/or if we aren't able to continue those classes for some reason.

Staying with Abeka for Reading, Language Arts (writing), and Spelling.

Reading/Language is starting to take less time one on one with me, so that's where we get to add in the rich history program.

I can't believe we are going to have a THIRD grader this coming school year!

OH and a very neat thing happened today while I was ordering curriculum.

The teacher's manuals for Abeka are really expensive on their website, and used ones can usually be found in abundance.  It's just sometimes a needle in a haystack to find a current edition.  I have compromised in the past and just had to adjust the schedule in a previous edition to fit the current workbooks.

Well...after ordering from Abeka today I went in search of the Language 3 curriculum on the used websites.

None to be found.

So I put out a "wanted" email on the used Abeka curriculum yahoo group.

FOUR minutes later, someone replied to me!  A brand new edition at an extremely reasonable price!

Ask and you shall receive right?!

I was so happy to have that search over and done.  I really didn't want anything left on my plate to get for next year...searching and looking the rest of the year. YAY!

Well, that pretty much covers it!

I love shopping for school supplies!