Routine!

After the chaos of getting settled, I find myself once again reminded how much better we (including me) do with some kind of routine or rhythm. I think we have our weekly schedule pretty much set finally. Monday is our homeschool playgroup with 6 and under unschoolers; Tuesday is our "outing day" (more on that in a sec); Wednesday is library day and starting this week, we will be joining a story time group; Thursday is our day to get together with our local "grandma"; and Friday is Farmers' Market day. I really like that most of our things are half day or less so we can fit groceries and other chores in flexibly.

Two weeks ago, our Tuesday looked like this:

so we headed to Lake Kegonsa State Park and spent most of the day there. We had a picnic, identified a few trees and wildflowers and played on the playground. Another mom and her two girls (almost three and just turned one) stopped and played for a bit and Bean declared the older girl to be her "best friend." After they left, Bean pretended to talk on the phone to her, making plans for fun things to do and telling her that she loved her very much. That evening, when telling Dad about our day, she announced in her ever-so-earnest (as only a three-year-old can be) voice: "____ is such a great human." I am desparately hoping for a little girl about Bean's age at story time...she wants a girl friend so much right now!

Beeb had fun doing Beeb things:


and trying outa new hairstyle courtesy of the slide. That's some serious static electricity!

This past week on Tuesday, we joined other homeschoolers for a tour of the Sassy Cow Creamery. Very interesting for everyone, but some of the highlights were riding on pedal tractors, trying out their ice cream, and watching the bottling machine. The bottling machines had all of our boisterous group watching with rapt attention! I didn't have my camera, but there are a few pics at Denise's blog (she's the one who organized the trip). I have started carrying a notebook for Bug and Bean and crayons or markers when we go on an outing, so they can "journal" about the outing. I posted some of their pictures here (I also finally got around to posting their Sheep and Wool pictures, too).

We went apple picking with our local "grandma" on Thursday and then came home and made applesauce for lunch. The big kids cored and peeled and Bug and Bean chopped up the apples with butter knives, so it was a group effort. Another very fun day and I am currently on my second batch of apple butter! I would like to get some apple sauce put up too, so we may end up going apple picking again!

So a lot going on, not a whole lot of blogging, but now that we are getting settled, it should be easier to get back on track posting regularly!