A Week, Briefly (12/4/17)

I finally caught the stomach bug that has been working its way slowly through our home.  I've managed thus far to keep it together enough to drive two of the teens to seminary.  (I'm hoping we make it home without incident).  But I feel dreadful.

So today, Friday, will probably be a day off school while I pass kidwatching and meal responsibilities off on the teens.

Perhaps the $20 cash I have in my wallet will be enough for Rose Red to run to the grocery store for something quick and easy for lunch because I have homemade vegetable soup on the menu, and even though the teens are perfectly capable of cooking, the thought of walking them through the prep is too much right now.

We have a documentary about Pandas borrowed from the library.

It's 19 degrees outside.

I think we have a plan.

Yesterday I got to take 5 of my girls and one cute friend (Rose Red opted to go to work) to The Nutcracker. 

It was marvelous!  So many clever and funny little details in this interpretation!  We had such a lovely time, and then afterward, we had a grand discussion comparing the Colorado Ballet production to our city production. Most of us liked the Columbine from Colorado better than our local one, but we preferred the baby angels, costuming, and staging of our local production.

We decorated our tree . . . with the kids hoping, hoping, hoping we can trust our littlest ones enough next year to keep the tree out of the pack and play.

With 3 off-days (Nature Angel got her cast off!), we only managed 3 days of Academy and 1 day of Symposium.  We did have Morning Meeting all 5 days, though, and kids did a lot of individual schoolwork.

Mister Man is very happy to have started Explode the Code book 2 as a spelling book and Rod and Staff grade 1 math for review and a sense of formality about his schoolwork.  He does several pages each day in both books, and he just shines to feel that he is "doing school."

Brother has started working in book C of Rod and Staff's preschool series, and he's thriving in his return to Eclectic Foundations.  He does much better reading words in isolation than in context.  The work of decoding is fine alone; the work of comprehending is fine alone; but both together is overwhelming, and he needs a lot of support.  We're moving very slowly, though, and he feels successful . . . which is just what I want!

Baymax and Lola are now 3 or turning 3 shortly!   How are our "babies" so big?

Christmas boxes are arriving constantly right now, but our Advent plans are setting the tone for the season, and so far we are having the peaceful December I hoped we would have.

Ladybug drew this nativity that charms me to my very core.  My favorite detail is the happy, chubby, upside down angel hovering at the top of the picture.

I signed the contract to teach English, but I'm not succeeding at getting the videos submitted that I need to in order to actually start.  I'm determined that my family comes first, and they've needed me greatly in the hours that I thought I could devote to working.

It may be that this will not work out, and I am grateful that my contract includes the right to quit before the contract end date. 

We'll see.


(linking here)