A Week, Briefly (11/6/17)
The toddlers make us laugh.
Monday
I think it was just a regular Monday at our house.
We did everything on our list that we need to get done, and I made it to the fabric store to purchase 24 yards of eyelet for trimming half a dozen little skirts for our dance group.
In our Morning Meeting, we reviewed The Living Christ. We've been reviewing it twice a month since September, and the reviews have finally opened our brains, so we sang our hearts out. Sir Walter Scott was home for this song-fest, and he was overwhelmed with amusement at the enthusiasm the littles have for singing as well as frustration that he's not around to sing with us every day.
The weather is decidedly wintery--we're barely reaching 40 degrees each day--but we have good gear in which the littles (minus the toddlers) bundled up and headed outside to play for a couple of hours anyway. I invited them indoors with warm apple cider, popcorn, and pomegranate seeds, and we had a lovely Academy session during which we finished How's Inky?. We'd already finished Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims over the weekend, so we started Molly's Pilgrim. The kids are captivated by the poetry in Now We Are Six, and Mister Man and I looked up A. A. Milne's name to find out that the initials stand for Alan Alexander.
All of the teens were home, so we had a good read-aloud session. We're slowly making our way through Gene Stratton-Porter's The Keeper of the Bees. It's such a slow, thoughtful book, and we're having such a hard time getting together for reading that I honestly considered putting it away, but then Pixie sighed as I finished the chapter saying, "I love these books. I love this author. I love reading these together."
Then all 4 girls animatedly discussed which Gene Stratton-Porter books they liked best, and I decided that we'll keep reading forever.
Tuesday
In round 2 of memorizing The Family: A Proclamation to the World (we found a new musical arrangement, and it's like learning it for the first time!), we're starting the 3rd paragraph.
Teens ran in all directions all day, and so did I.
Nature Angel got her cast, and we were able to see on the x-rays that her fractures are tiny little buckle fractures--painful, but easily healed. The phrases the urgent care doc used led us to believe the break was worse. We are relieved, and Nature Angel is thrilled to have a short, waterproof cast that allows her to shower and crochet.
We returned 62 library books and only checked out 33 new ones, so we've brought our running total of library books in the house to below 100 for the first time in months. Though I'm grateful for libraries and the privilege of freely filling our home with books, I'm actually relieved to be responsible for fewer books than usual.
Nature Angel and Little Princess went to the church for activities, but the rest of the kids and I read together, and called it an early night.
Wednesday
I was clumsy--got a canker sore on my tongue, making it hard to talk; fell over the open dishwasher door, bruising my hip; and slept wrong on my elbow, making it hard to move my arm all day.
Sheesh!
But I took the Elementary 8 on a nature walk, and we had a lovely time. When we stopped for a snack, we did our Academy reading, and the day was as blue and clear and crisp as any November day could possibly be.
At home the teens I reviewed adjectives in Spanish and watched Arsenic and Old Lace for Movies as Literature.
What a crazy story!!!
We couldn't decide whether to laugh or groan . . . so we did a lot of both. Now the girls want to get a group of teen friends to watch the movie together.
The teens headed out the door for a combined cake-decorating youth night activity with another ward (congregation), but they came home in time for 15 minutes of reading aloud, which I managed to do around the aching spot on my tongue.
Seriously--who knew such a tiny thing could be such a big inconvenience!
Thursday
A day of service.
One of our dance family moms is due to have a baby in 2 weeks. She woke with dizziness and blurred vision and suddenly high blood pressure. Her midwife and I encouraged her to stay home, but she was so sad about missing her kids' first show, that I extended our offer to pick up her kids to including her.
My family and I spent literally the whole day driving, caring for, and feeding this family because they needed it.
In addition, we had our first show at a local rehab center for the elderly. We had a small (perhaps 20 people) but appreciative audience, and each kid sweetly greeted each audience member personally after the show.
It was a tough venue--not enough space for costume changes and the rooms were awkward to work with--but we did it!
And we get to do it again next week!
I put most of the kids to bed early because I was tired to the bone, but Pixie worked at another 3 1/2 hours of dancing before resting.
It's a good thing passions feed our hearts even as they drain our bodies. :)
Friday
With temps in the 20s, I kept the littles indoors for an early Academy session and a morning of Lego-building while I took kids by turns for one-on-one school time.
An earlier-than-usual lunch and quiet time allowed the teens and me to have a full Symposium time including all of the discussion questions for Arsenic and Old Lace, history review, Spanish adjectives drills, and a hard Case of Red Herrings puzzle.
Then the temperatures climbed to 40, and I sent the young ones outside to play the afternoon away while I did chores, most of the teens did school, and Rose Red got ready for the military ball she was attending with her love.
She was gorgeous!
The brakes on his car went out, so she had to go pick him up, so we have no pictures right now. I'm hoping some will be forthcoming.
This is week 2 of not having piano lessons. Clearly I need to fix something in our schedule/priorities.
(linking here)
Monday
I think it was just a regular Monday at our house.
We did everything on our list that we need to get done, and I made it to the fabric store to purchase 24 yards of eyelet for trimming half a dozen little skirts for our dance group.
In our Morning Meeting, we reviewed The Living Christ. We've been reviewing it twice a month since September, and the reviews have finally opened our brains, so we sang our hearts out. Sir Walter Scott was home for this song-fest, and he was overwhelmed with amusement at the enthusiasm the littles have for singing as well as frustration that he's not around to sing with us every day.
The weather is decidedly wintery--we're barely reaching 40 degrees each day--but we have good gear in which the littles (minus the toddlers) bundled up and headed outside to play for a couple of hours anyway. I invited them indoors with warm apple cider, popcorn, and pomegranate seeds, and we had a lovely Academy session during which we finished How's Inky?. We'd already finished Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims over the weekend, so we started Molly's Pilgrim. The kids are captivated by the poetry in Now We Are Six, and Mister Man and I looked up A. A. Milne's name to find out that the initials stand for Alan Alexander.
All of the teens were home, so we had a good read-aloud session. We're slowly making our way through Gene Stratton-Porter's The Keeper of the Bees. It's such a slow, thoughtful book, and we're having such a hard time getting together for reading that I honestly considered putting it away, but then Pixie sighed as I finished the chapter saying, "I love these books. I love this author. I love reading these together."
Then all 4 girls animatedly discussed which Gene Stratton-Porter books they liked best, and I decided that we'll keep reading forever.
Tuesday
In round 2 of memorizing The Family: A Proclamation to the World (we found a new musical arrangement, and it's like learning it for the first time!), we're starting the 3rd paragraph.
Teens ran in all directions all day, and so did I.
Nature Angel got her cast, and we were able to see on the x-rays that her fractures are tiny little buckle fractures--painful, but easily healed. The phrases the urgent care doc used led us to believe the break was worse. We are relieved, and Nature Angel is thrilled to have a short, waterproof cast that allows her to shower and crochet.
We returned 62 library books and only checked out 33 new ones, so we've brought our running total of library books in the house to below 100 for the first time in months. Though I'm grateful for libraries and the privilege of freely filling our home with books, I'm actually relieved to be responsible for fewer books than usual.
Nature Angel and Little Princess went to the church for activities, but the rest of the kids and I read together, and called it an early night.
Wednesday
I was clumsy--got a canker sore on my tongue, making it hard to talk; fell over the open dishwasher door, bruising my hip; and slept wrong on my elbow, making it hard to move my arm all day.
Sheesh!
But I took the Elementary 8 on a nature walk, and we had a lovely time. When we stopped for a snack, we did our Academy reading, and the day was as blue and clear and crisp as any November day could possibly be.
 |
| We spent a good 45 minutes or so at the "labyrinth." Someone had left sidewalk chalk for public use, and we certainly used it! |
 |
| I debated inviting kids to have spelling lessons with the chalk, but I bit my tongue and left them to their own explorations. How fun it was when they asked me to help them spell captions for their drawings! I'm glad I didn't turn the outing into a drill. |
 |
| These two ran the course at least 6 times--My best guess is a mile and a half. |
 |
| Exploring a man-made waterfall under a bridge |
 |
| Too tired to even sit up . . . or just needing to get that close to the chalky sand and gravel . . . I'm not sure which. We walked a couple of miles, and that's hard work for not-yet-3-year-old legs. |
At home the teens I reviewed adjectives in Spanish and watched Arsenic and Old Lace for Movies as Literature.
What a crazy story!!!
We couldn't decide whether to laugh or groan . . . so we did a lot of both. Now the girls want to get a group of teen friends to watch the movie together.
 |
| Belle designed and made a coat for Theo. Perhaps next week I can take pictures of the finished product. It is lovely. |
The teens headed out the door for a combined cake-decorating youth night activity with another ward (congregation), but they came home in time for 15 minutes of reading aloud, which I managed to do around the aching spot on my tongue.
Seriously--who knew such a tiny thing could be such a big inconvenience!
Thursday
A day of service.
One of our dance family moms is due to have a baby in 2 weeks. She woke with dizziness and blurred vision and suddenly high blood pressure. Her midwife and I encouraged her to stay home, but she was so sad about missing her kids' first show, that I extended our offer to pick up her kids to including her.
My family and I spent literally the whole day driving, caring for, and feeding this family because they needed it.
In addition, we had our first show at a local rehab center for the elderly. We had a small (perhaps 20 people) but appreciative audience, and each kid sweetly greeted each audience member personally after the show.
It was a tough venue--not enough space for costume changes and the rooms were awkward to work with--but we did it!
And we get to do it again next week!
I put most of the kids to bed early because I was tired to the bone, but Pixie worked at another 3 1/2 hours of dancing before resting.
It's a good thing passions feed our hearts even as they drain our bodies. :)
Friday
With temps in the 20s, I kept the littles indoors for an early Academy session and a morning of Lego-building while I took kids by turns for one-on-one school time.
An earlier-than-usual lunch and quiet time allowed the teens and me to have a full Symposium time including all of the discussion questions for Arsenic and Old Lace, history review, Spanish adjectives drills, and a hard Case of Red Herrings puzzle.
Then the temperatures climbed to 40, and I sent the young ones outside to play the afternoon away while I did chores, most of the teens did school, and Rose Red got ready for the military ball she was attending with her love.
She was gorgeous!
The brakes on his car went out, so she had to go pick him up, so we have no pictures right now. I'm hoping some will be forthcoming.
This is week 2 of not having piano lessons. Clearly I need to fix something in our schedule/priorities.
(linking here)
It sounds like a pretty good week - and no awful Monday! Glad to hear Nature Angel's break should heal quickly.
ReplyDeleteYour telling of Arsenic and Old Lace made me laugh. We watched Emma this weekend and the kids ended up passionately shouting at the TV. They were most disturbed with the way Emma was muddling things. I thought I was at a football match ~ LOL. I do hope your body is feeling better.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
Oh, I hope your daughter will heal up well and quickly. One of my sons broke a foot one year and then the very next year his hand! That was tough on him.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we have ever checked out more then 30 books from the library. I would get a measure of stress when my kids were young because often a few book would go missing.
Here's a recent discovery that works really well to actually heal my mouth sores: Orajel Antiseptic Rinse ("for all mouth sores: promotes healing, kills bacteria, provides pain relief"). It comes in a 16-oz bottle and is not too expensive. Usually my canker sores last a couple weeks, but I just cut one down to 3 days by using this stuff at the first sign...
ReplyDelete