Yikes...

Well, I am truely very sorry to everyone for my absence for... almost a month!  We have had some crazy times here... 

First... It is summer, which means yard work, garden to tend, and trying to squeeze in some fun in the backyard pool (ours is a turtle sandbox filled with water!). 

Second... I am a space head, if you know me, you know this to be true.  My poor renters back in CO...  they put up with me forgetting to do something or putting it off and then forgetting!  I swear by the time this baby comes out I am going to be a walking zombie! 

Third... we just had a tragic accident outside our house.  A semi truck was speeding and not really paying attention and didn't see the railroad crossing arm down, ran through it and into the Amtrak going by...  He died instantly, but as some of our pictures can show, it was a close one for us.  Our house is about 30 feet from the tracks, and had either train or truck been going the other way, or faster, or been a freight train, or any number of different things, the truck could have gone into our living room.  BUT... God protected us!  It was like there was a bubble around our house.  Not even a piece of trash (it was a truck full of trash) was on our side of the street!  We are so thankful for this and in shock still of it all.  You can google Amtrak crash in Maine and find out more about it all if you want. 

1st Pic: most fires are out, just spot fires, probably about 40 mins after crash.

2nd Pic: Crane going through picking up metal debris, most of that load was the cab of the truck.

3rd Pic: Cleaning up all the trash, you can see the trailer on its side

Other than that, lets see...  we are about 21 weeks along with #3, and will be finding out our exact due date/gender next Tuesday!!! 

Our garden is going well, I want to make a whole post on it tomorrow.  But once again, we have our work cut out for us.  We have gone from one large garden and a pepper patch, to one large garden, a pepper patch, a herb garden which extends for more peppers and some cauliflower and broccoli and then our squash and zuccini along with some muskmelon plants in a four plot...  Oh the work we have in store...

I am also making my way through One Thousand Gifts and will be doing a discussion on it later this month, or next, depending on timing of everything! :)  If you haven't picked it up, please do, it is an amazing book!

Becoming an Orderly Child

I have been trying to plan out our school lessons ahead of time and finally got to it yesterday!  I printed everything out, cut pieces out to be prepared, put all the pages in order, figured out exactly what we were going to do today!  Let me say it has been a much better day! 

We are working on Homeschool Creations's preschool garden pack.  (Plus the free bonus pack for linking up to the garden challenge!)  I needed something that would fill the week before Easter, and although it is raining out today, the garden pack seemed to be a good fit! 

I am also starting Hubbard's Cupboard's character trait lessons.  It worked out that this weeks lesson is on being orderly and there was a few activities that worked on putting things in order!  I love how that works out. 

As soon as I can get to the store, probably Saturday, I am going to pick up materials for a morning board.  I have reviewed quite a few of them, and really like the transition that they make along with helping the kiddos learn about time, calenders, weather, temperature and $.  I have taken some of my ideas and printouts from the following sites:  Mama Jenn, Homeschool Creations, Delightful Learning, and 1+1+1=1.  I loved the large calender from Delightful Learning and am thinking of doing a calender and morning board.  I also loved Delightful Learning'sWho to Pray for spot.  I think switching out different pictures will be a great way to help the kiddos picture who they are praying for.

But none of this will take place until next week, but that is OK by me!  I need to get some printer ink too! :)  (I have noticed that I sure do go through a lot, but I am also making two copies for the kids and then a hard copy for my files (this way I have it in the future and don't have to be connected to the Internet if I need a copy of something.)

What are some tips that you have for home school planning?  How much time do you spend with your preschooler?  (this has been a dilemma for me as Jacob just turned four and will be home at least another year and Hanna the little girl I watch and do preschool with is going off to kindergarten next year~ so I feel like she should be learning way more and we should be spending more time on school.)