Fall Schedule

As much as I enjoyed our summer, I'm ready for the structure of our fall routine. Starting next week, our schedule will look like:

Monday - grocery shopping 

I go to Costco every two weeks. The other week, I go to a regular grocery store. It varies based on what I need and what other errands I need to run. Sometimes its Target or Trader Joe's. Whole Foods is one of my favorites because they also have double shopping carts and we can get a really cheap pizza lunch there, but I also love our family-owned local grocery store where all the staff are the absolute friendliest.

Tuesday - music class

We've been going to Kindermusik since Claire was six months old. We've had the same teacher all three years and the girls just love her. This year, we'll go to the 10:30 toddler class all together, even though Maggie is the only one enrolled. Then Claire will stay for the 11:30 preschool class. The music studio is in our town's outdoor mall, so Maggie and I will hang out in Starbucks or browse the clearance racks. One of Claire's best friends, Lilly (who also has a little brother the same age as Maggie) will be staying for the preschool class too.

Wednesday - church playgroup and cooking class

After meeting at the park all summer long, our parish mom's group will start meeting in the church nursery again next week. We meet from 10:00 to 11:30 and afterwards Claire will be taking a little cooking class at the community center with her friend, Declan. It doesn't start until 1:00, so we'll have time for lunch in between. Since there's a park right next to the community center, we'll try to do picnics for as long as the weather holds up. It's 45 minutes long, which will give Maggie and I just enough time to run to the library and come back. It'll be a later nap day, but at age two I think Maggie can handle that just fine.

Thursday - catechesis of the good shepherd

We're calling this preschool, because Claire has been asking to go after watching Daniel Tiger, Peppa Pig, Franklin, etc. It's from 9:30 to 11:30 at our parish. I've heard really, really great things about this Montessori faith formation program, so I'm pretty excited. Claire's mostly excited and a little nervous, but her best friend Cecilia will be in class with her. It will also be nice to have some one-on-one time with Maggie, even though we'll probably spend most of the time running errands.

Friday - free day!

We'll have Fridays off to go to the children's museum (where we have a membership) or other indoor playgrounds. Sometimes we'll have a doctor's appointment or play at a friend's house or have lunch with Adam. Sometimes we'll probably just stay home and hang out in our pajamas. I'm planning to let Claire skip quiet time on Fridays to have some one-on-one time with me to play board games or do art projects. 

Weekend Ideas: 

- Take Claire to another horseback riding class at our city farm park
- Go to the pumpkin patch and paint or carve our chosen specimens
-  We'll be at a wedding in West Virginia on Halloween, so we'll celebrate a week early with a ride on the Halloween train in Snoqualmie or the Pumpkin Bash at the zoo
- Saturday Family Concerts at the Seattle Town Hall
- Little Red Riding Hood play at the Storybook Theater
-  A toddler friendly one-hour version of the Nutcracker ballet
- Kindipendent kids concerts at Mt. Baker Community Club
- Impressionist exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum 
- Seattle Aquarium
- Snohomish Aquatic Center
- Pacific Science Center
- Garden d'lights at Bellevue Botanical Gardens
- Town tree lighting and holiday carousel at the mall

We're squeezing in all our winter weekend fun because we'll be taking it really easy from January onward!



My other main goal for the fall is to be organized enough to get us to the gym when the childcare opens again at 4:00 pm, stay for an hour, and then come home to finish making dinner. I'm hoping we can get to that twice a week, but I'd be happy with at least once.