A Week, Briefly (#1)
Our week began with our first Sunday back to church in our own ward (congregation) after a two week vacation. We were welcomed home warmly. I'm grateful to know good people.
That night was Family Home Evening; our lesson was on orderliness in our home, our work, and our minds. We talked about forming good habits that allowed us to have the order we need to learn and grow happily.
After our lesson we had a treat. J10 had made us a raspberry cheesecake. And a fine job she did, too! It was delicious!
************
The next morning we woke up full of enthusiasm for developing good habits. Everyone woke up with a smile and worked well. It helped that I had scrambled eggs and toast ready and waiting for the responsible workers.
We began our new year of morning devotionals (we'd slipped with the habit in the early days of pregnancy when mornings were too hard for me to function--usually we do them year-round). We're keeping it simple with only 4 components: a primary song, an article of faith, a scripture verse to discuss, and memorizing Romans 12.
After that we dispersed to rest and recover from our 2 hours of industry. Our working muscles are not very strong, nor have we been disciplined this summer.
That night the 3 littles organized a fashion show for the rest of us. They set up changing rooms, passed out tickets, arranged seating, and entertained us.
We whooped and hollered and cheered while the 3 littles took their bows and grinned. The big girls looked at me and said, "Were our shows like this? We remember them being much better." I laughed and told them they were exactly the same. They shook their heads in disbelief.
***********
I chronicled Tuesday in detail for our "A Day in the Life--August" post.
***********
Wednesday was much the same as Tuesday with a lot of organizing of school supplies, skating, hair-doing, and reading.
Dad and I were able to run a couple of errands including a library run where we found 3 full baskets of books we'd ordered ready and waiting for us to check out. We brought them home, and the kids were lost in their own worlds for the rest of the day.
That evening after dinner Dad and I dug out the swing set in the back yard so we could reposition it in a more useful, fun place. It took 2 hours because it was set so deeply into the ground (by the previous owners of our house). Then we called the kids out to help us haul it around. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it because now the slide is slidier and the swings are high enough off the ground that the kids' feet don't scrape the ground. Even the big kids can't resist playing on it now.
**************
Thursday was much the same as Wednesday.
Dad anchored the swing set, and the little guys played until they were too hot and sweaty to function.
Included in the library baskets were 4 Muzzy video sets--Spanish, French, Italian, and Chinese. Once I gave permission, the kids were all over them. They chose French for their first video (we have about 25 Fancy Nancy books in the house right now which are the inspiration for that choice).
Thursday was Dad's first day back at work after vacation, so our evening was busy being sure dinner was on time and then getting used to bedtime routines without him again.
While he was gone we discovered a wet spot in the ceiling of the basement bathroom. Something was leaking from above. It wasn't a major emergency, and we knew in advance that Dad was having a tough night at work (his supervisor texted him in advance about certain situations), so we left it alone and went to bed praying that we could deal with it in the morning.
***************
Friday continued much the same as the rest of the week, except for the adventure of watching Dad cut a hole in the ceiling of the basement bathroom to find out where the leak was coming from. He determined it was either the little kids' toilet or tub, but he needed to go to bed, so the mystery would have to wait until his day off. We duck-taped their toilet shut so no one would accidentally use it and switched to showering the little guys in Mom and Dad's bathroom for the next few days.
I love having several bathrooms! (It's still a novelty and a miracle even 9 months after moving into this house.)
The big girls did fancy hair-dos on one another:
They did my hair:
And they experimented with the camera a lot!
I approached H5 about going to bed earlier each night. She's been waking up weepy and uncooperative each morning. Going to bed earlier means missing out on family bedtime reading, but I offered to let her choose 2 story books each night for a private session, and she agreed readily.
M12 and S12 made dinner for friends who had a baby last week. It was a lovely meal of lentil soup, brown rice, melon, blueberries, green salad, and oatmeal-banana balls. M12 and I delivered it . . . only getting lost on the way twice! We had to hurry home to get our own dinner on the table on time for Dad.
Had I known further in advance about the meal for our friends I would have made it part of our family menu, but our menu was already posted for family viewing, and none of the kids would have accepted lentil soup in place of pizza with any measure of grace!
**************
Saturday started with a special breakfast of blueberry muffins and bacon. While we ate I thanked the kids for their good work during the week and reminded them this was simply the beginning. After breakfast we got to work on our weekend chores and preparation for our homeschool group's Not Back To School Picnic.
I collapsed onto the couch for an hour with one of the kids' library books.
Eventually we headed up north to the picnic, but first we ran some last minute before-school errands.
(We left Dad at home sleeping because he had to work that night.)
It was 100 degrees outside. Too hot for a picnic, but the park was shady and there were gallons and gallons of icy cold water and lemonade. The kids had a blast seeing their friends and picking up our copy of the group's yearbook.
It is a very well put together yearbook. I'm terribly impressed! Our favorite detail is the tiny thumbnail picture of I2 on the very bottom corner of the very last page. He's sleeping, and the caption reads--in reference to all of the activities of the families throughout all of the school year--"Whew! That was exhausting! Let's take a nap!"
Our week ended as we plunked a very dirty, but soundly sleeping I2 into his bed, showered the rest of us clean of post-picnic grime, and crawled into our own beds later than usual, but full of happy thoughts and hopes for the school year ahead.
That night was Family Home Evening; our lesson was on orderliness in our home, our work, and our minds. We talked about forming good habits that allowed us to have the order we need to learn and grow happily.
After our lesson we had a treat. J10 had made us a raspberry cheesecake. And a fine job she did, too! It was delicious!
************
The next morning we woke up full of enthusiasm for developing good habits. Everyone woke up with a smile and worked well. It helped that I had scrambled eggs and toast ready and waiting for the responsible workers.
We began our new year of morning devotionals (we'd slipped with the habit in the early days of pregnancy when mornings were too hard for me to function--usually we do them year-round). We're keeping it simple with only 4 components: a primary song, an article of faith, a scripture verse to discuss, and memorizing Romans 12.
After that we dispersed to rest and recover from our 2 hours of industry. Our working muscles are not very strong, nor have we been disciplined this summer.
That night the 3 littles organized a fashion show for the rest of us. They set up changing rooms, passed out tickets, arranged seating, and entertained us.
 |
| Writing down the details of the show to keep things organized behind-the-scenes. |
 |
| Little sister comes out as "cool teen"--big sister prompts her in her lines. |
 |
| Daddy became the dressing room once little brother accidentally knocked down the original dressing room. |
 |
| A lady ready to go shopping . . . other costumes included an artist, a waiter, and a dancer. |
 |
| Little brother ended the show modeling how to be a reader. |
We whooped and hollered and cheered while the 3 littles took their bows and grinned. The big girls looked at me and said, "Were our shows like this? We remember them being much better." I laughed and told them they were exactly the same. They shook their heads in disbelief.
***********
I chronicled Tuesday in detail for our "A Day in the Life--August" post.
***********
Wednesday was much the same as Tuesday with a lot of organizing of school supplies, skating, hair-doing, and reading.
 |
| In the corner of one of the photos the kids were taking, I found a picture of me at the computer working on getting ready for school. |
Dad and I were able to run a couple of errands including a library run where we found 3 full baskets of books we'd ordered ready and waiting for us to check out. We brought them home, and the kids were lost in their own worlds for the rest of the day.
That evening after dinner Dad and I dug out the swing set in the back yard so we could reposition it in a more useful, fun place. It took 2 hours because it was set so deeply into the ground (by the previous owners of our house). Then we called the kids out to help us haul it around. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it because now the slide is slidier and the swings are high enough off the ground that the kids' feet don't scrape the ground. Even the big kids can't resist playing on it now.
**************
Thursday was much the same as Wednesday.
Dad anchored the swing set, and the little guys played until they were too hot and sweaty to function.
Included in the library baskets were 4 Muzzy video sets--Spanish, French, Italian, and Chinese. Once I gave permission, the kids were all over them. They chose French for their first video (we have about 25 Fancy Nancy books in the house right now which are the inspiration for that choice).
 |
| Which one should we watch? |
 |
| Inspired by the video to study vocabulary . . . all on their own! |
While he was gone we discovered a wet spot in the ceiling of the basement bathroom. Something was leaking from above. It wasn't a major emergency, and we knew in advance that Dad was having a tough night at work (his supervisor texted him in advance about certain situations), so we left it alone and went to bed praying that we could deal with it in the morning.
***************
Friday continued much the same as the rest of the week, except for the adventure of watching Dad cut a hole in the ceiling of the basement bathroom to find out where the leak was coming from. He determined it was either the little kids' toilet or tub, but he needed to go to bed, so the mystery would have to wait until his day off. We duck-taped their toilet shut so no one would accidentally use it and switched to showering the little guys in Mom and Dad's bathroom for the next few days.
I love having several bathrooms! (It's still a novelty and a miracle even 9 months after moving into this house.)
The big girls did fancy hair-dos on one another:
 |
| M12's handiwork on J10 |
They did my hair:
 |
| M12 loves to braid. |
 |
| H5 did this one all by herself during bedtime reading. |
I approached H5 about going to bed earlier each night. She's been waking up weepy and uncooperative each morning. Going to bed earlier means missing out on family bedtime reading, but I offered to let her choose 2 story books each night for a private session, and she agreed readily.
M12 and S12 made dinner for friends who had a baby last week. It was a lovely meal of lentil soup, brown rice, melon, blueberries, green salad, and oatmeal-banana balls. M12 and I delivered it . . . only getting lost on the way twice! We had to hurry home to get our own dinner on the table on time for Dad.
 |
| M12 cooks the sausage for our own french bread pizzas. |
**************
Saturday started with a special breakfast of blueberry muffins and bacon. While we ate I thanked the kids for their good work during the week and reminded them this was simply the beginning. After breakfast we got to work on our weekend chores and preparation for our homeschool group's Not Back To School Picnic.
I collapsed onto the couch for an hour with one of the kids' library books.
Eventually we headed up north to the picnic, but first we ran some last minute before-school errands.
(We left Dad at home sleeping because he had to work that night.)
It was 100 degrees outside. Too hot for a picnic, but the park was shady and there were gallons and gallons of icy cold water and lemonade. The kids had a blast seeing their friends and picking up our copy of the group's yearbook.
It is a very well put together yearbook. I'm terribly impressed! Our favorite detail is the tiny thumbnail picture of I2 on the very bottom corner of the very last page. He's sleeping, and the caption reads--in reference to all of the activities of the families throughout all of the school year--"Whew! That was exhausting! Let's take a nap!"
Our week ended as we plunked a very dirty, but soundly sleeping I2 into his bed, showered the rest of us clean of post-picnic grime, and crawled into our own beds later than usual, but full of happy thoughts and hopes for the school year ahead.
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