A Week, Briefly (#4)

I woke up Sunday morning and knew that the illness was winning; however, I had church commitments that could not be passed off to someone else without causing significant difficulties for others, and I had promises to keep to my children, so I pushed through.

By Monday morning I was useless.

One of the best blessings in my life is my husband.  He was off work on Monday and took the kids to the zoo for the day so that I could stay quietly in bed.

I love him.

H5 tells me they're watching the hippos here.

If you ask him, I2 will tell you that the ostrich is his favorite animal.

The joey is nursing.

After the zoo the kids came home hungry (in spite of the picnic lunch they took), and I was feeling well enough to rustle up a snack and hear all about the day.  After that I went back to bed while everyone did quiet things . . . except for Dad, who ran errands and brought home pizza for dinner.

I love him!

Tuesday was a back to school day for us.  We moved very slowly, and I spent a great deal of time on the couch.

"Copywork is my favorite!!!"

She's in Alma 37--well on her way to finishing before she's 8 years old.

M12 and I decided that the science plan we had for her this year will wait until next year.  She's still part of our science club so she'll get some good science that way, and given the math challenges she's facing this year she'd have too much on her plate.  Given the relief we both feel, it is a wise decision.

 I2 climbed onto the wood-burning stove knocking a metal decorative piece off the mantle.  It landed on his finger, cutting and bruising it badly.  It took several hours to stop the bleeding, and I spent a long time that day watching and wondering if his finger was broken.

In her free time A7 made balloon animals.  They helped cheer up our very sad, hurt boy.

A spider on the left, a mouse on the right.

More of the mouse

His favorite is this shark.

Eventually he felt well enough to do school.  We talked (appropriately enough) about our hands.

Though I thought he wasn't ready for preschool, and he gets to do Kid School with A7 and H5, he kept asking, "Where my school?  I do school, too?"  So, now we're going to do some sort of small activity just for him a few times each week.  We taped this first project to the wall, and he is ever so proud!!

Then he was tired and still in pain so he snuggled up for a story with Dad just before he had to go to bed to get ready to work all night.

I thought I was on the mend enough to go ahead and plan to attend our first science club meeting Wednesday morning, but I coughed, coughed, coughed all night long and knew that I couldn't in good conscience share those germs with others.  I spent a long time trying to communicate with our club leader to see if she wanted the kids to attend without me (this is not a drop-off club).  When we finally got the go-ahead it was a mad scramble to get out the door.

E14 "graduated" from the club last year, so she stayed home to work on regular school work.

I dropped off the 4 middle kids and kept the two littlest ones with me.  I had planned to run errands, but I was so hungry we ran to the closest grocery store with a deli and bought a snack.  We ate at the store in the cute little restaurant section--just the three of us.  I loved paying close attention to them, and they loved the whole experience. 

We were sure to pick up an extra treat for the rest of the kids, and the little guys loved sharing with them.

I was exhausted, so it was another afternoon on the couch for me.

E14 is still struggling with time management.  We sat down together to work on her grammar lesson shortly before 6 pm with a 6:30 pm deadline looming over us for leaving the house to get to the church on time for youth activities.  I was tired and dreading trying to teach patiently.

I was so relieved when she showed glimmers of understanding!  There were entire sections of the assignment that she could do on her own--a huge blessing compared to last week when she needed her hand held through every single question.

Hooray for learning!

Everyone had a blast at the church--even tired old me because there were a couple of moms who were willing to chat (I hid with my little kids in an unused room, but they found us--I warned them that I was still contagious, but they stayed anyway).

The rest of the week just went by day by day with school for everyone.

I2 made a maraca.  Then I played the recorder and he played his maraca, and we danced to our "music."

"Daddy, will you play wif me?"

E14 working at her desk--she hardly ever appears in pictures because there's not much variation to her days lately.

M12 and A7 during a lesson.

I2 shared his preschool with his sisters--watercolor painting!

Dad took the kids on a walk, and E14 made this bouquet of wildflowers.

Over the weekend Dad found the source of the leak in the basement ceiling--the toilet in the kids' bathroom!  The wax ring that seals the toilet had just disintegrated over the years (before we ever bought the house) and must have been leaking for months and months because the entire subfloor was soaking wet, and the water was creeping into the drywall, too.  Dad ripped out the floor and as much of the subfloor as he could.  Then he closed off the bathroom until his next day off when he can continue work.

I continue to be daily thankful for having more than one bathroom!  I know it's a luxury, but it is also such a blessing!!!!

Dad still managed to keep his promise to have a movie night with the big girls while I was at a Relief Society activity (self defense class!), and he then took the 3 little ones on a date on Saturday to the hardware store and then out for ice cream. 

Have I mentioned that I love him!?!?!

Looking back on it, the theme for this week is that we need, love, and appreciate the Dad of our household.
Hooray for Dad!