A Week, Briefly (3/5/18)

This afternoon Mister Man told me, "Dad's working on the chicken coop."

"Oh, are you going to help?" I asked.

"No, I'm watching my wind car to see if it moves."

"That might take a long time."

"Yes.  It's not very windy today.  But I am very patient, Mom.  I am very patient."

Here's the wind car we built together this week.  It was a Christmas present, and he's been waiting for the right time to build it.  I think I agree with my 6-year-old boy that he is quite patient!

I did teach him that it would move if he blew into the sail.  But as well as being patient, he's also quite literal, and he wants to see the wind push his wind car.

It is an early spring day . . . even if the calendar still reads late winter.

Things are waking.

The robins are singing their hearts out every morning and evening.

We went in search of one today, and Nature Angel found it!  A gorgeous male just letting the world know he was glad spring was coming.

I find myself agreeing with him.

For our Academy today, we made landscape drawings because we studied a variety of American landscapes in Nature Anatomy.

Most of the world is still  quite gray.

But I dropped my chores and plans, piled the elementary 8 in the van and took off. 

Our backpack from last fall still held sharpened pencils!

They drew and walked and climbed.

I sat very still and did nothing but listen and watch.

Though the winter is generally thought of as a resting time, I think I work harder and more non-stop because I'm at home around all of my chores all of the time.  Laundry is bigger because we wear more clothing; there's more to pick up and tidy up because we're pulling out toys, paper, games, and puzzles all of the time. 

When I take the kids outside, away from home, there's nothing I can do but be with them.

I forgot that I like them. (Yes, I love them.  I care for them.  I do right by them.  But just plain liking them is another matter entirely.)

I laugh every time I look at Baymax's face in this picture!  He really had been happy!  I don't know where that face came from!!

Today reminded me that I do quite like them.

This week started out wintry cold, and we got a great deal of indoor play and school done.

I got it!  Actually Little Princess took the picture!  But now I have the perfect toothless photo I wanted.  And just in time, because the first big tooth is rapidly filling in the gap. :)

I see it happening.  She's minutes away from turning 11, and 11 to 12  is the year that my girls change from little girls to young women.  She'll be utterly changed by this time next year.  I see it starting to happen in her face in this picture.

So many completed schoolbooks!

The littles and I have shared incredibly touching moments as we've been reading Stories from the Life of Joseph Smith for Academy.  I think we've cried every day.  They're drawing and narrating the stories as we read them, and I can feel our testimonies growing stronger as we read of this gentle prophet.

The teens and I finished Go Tell it on the Mountain.  It was a hard, sad, thought-provoking read.  I found myself pausing often to bear testimony to my girls of truths so sadly misunderstood by the characters in this book.

 The teens and I also watched Henry V (the Kenneth Branagh version because--is there any other?!?) for Movies as Literature this week.  They got to re-watch it as they worked on their essays, too. 

When we finished, Belle sighed and asked, "Can we watch Much Ado About Nothing now?"

We didn't.

But we're going to!

One cold, blustery afternoon, the littles and I watched The King and I. 

At least the girls did. 

Beowulf lasted about 2 minutes before he ran off to play cars, and Brother lasted almost an hour.

But those little girls were glued to the screen for every moment of the gorgeous musical.  (I folded laundry and cooked while watching intermittently from the kitchen.)

Belle has been accepted as a volunteer at a local urban organic farm.  She'll work 3 hours a week doing whatever grunt work is needed.  No pay other than the education that comes from the work.  But she's got stars in her eyes that she's taken the first step on her path to becoming a real farmer (starting in mid-April).

I can't imagine my Belle as a farmer, but she can.

And I guess that's what matters!

We have a local church that has a free prom boutique every spring.  This year they had over 3,000 dresses and accessories to go with them.  Every girl got to take home one complete ensemble.  This week my teens came home with such gorgeous gowns!  I cannot believe it!  This is such a precious, kind, helpful ministry!!!

I am so thankful to the church, the volunteers, and the people who made the donations!!!

Proms are coming in another month . . . pictures will, too.


(linking here)