A Week, Briefly (9/10/18)

We did a lot of living and a little school.

We managed Symposium 4 out of 5 days (which will be our normal for the next 7 weeks because of co-op), Academy 3 1/2 out of 5 days, one-on-one school for Ladybug all 5 days, one-on-one school for the rest of the kids only once during the week.

But we also had a birthday, a family nature walk, picking up the teen car from the shop, the first day of homeschool co-op, dentist appointments, Belle's weekly farm hours, dance practice, church youth activities, a full week of dance for Pixie, paperwork to get Beowulf into the Developmental/Behavioral clinic at the local children's hospital (no small task!), and the homeschool fall camp out.

I'm very grateful that all of our cars were in working order this week!

Ladybug is 8 now!  This is a big birthday at our house, and one for which we throw a party with invited guests.  For Ladybug we kept it simple--Grandparents and two close families that were understanding when I asked them to follow a very strict gift protocol to keep from triggering problems.  We held the party outside, and the chickens were the main delight for our friends.

For Family Home Evening, we headed back to the nature trail that was the site of the big storm early in the summer.  Baymax and Beowulf were very scared that another storm would come.  Daddy was with us, and he helped allay fears  . . . and provide extra hands to hold.  Here are Mister Man and Ladybug exploring the stream that runs through the natural land bridge just before the main entrance to the trail.

A train came by just as we reached the railroad bridge!

We took a happy picture under the bridge this time!!!!

We stopped at all of the fitness stations on the trail.

And the coolest part of the entire evening was when we spied a baby squirrel and it tried to adopt us!!!!!  For nearly 1/4 mile it followed us and squeaked at us and ran across our shoes.  (Pixie got awesome video!)  We could hardly bear to tear ourselves away, and it was only with insistent prodding from Mom and Dad that any of the kids got in the car.  Even then we kept watching it, waiting for it to regain its senses and climb into the nearest tree, but it stayed in the parking lot squeaking sadly after us.  Finally, finally, it turned toward a grassy area, and as we pulled slowly away, we spied it approaching a tree.  Our prayers are with that tiny little bit of God's creation.

Co-op began!  We're divided all over the place in various classes, but I follow my littlest ones mostly, so they're the only ones I have pictures of.  Here are Lola and Baymax in the Sensory Bin class I'm leading.  I made cloud dough for the seven little ones in my class, and it was a joyfully messy exploratory hour.  (The mess got all over the whole church--I vacuumed and swept over and over again--on the stairs, in the halls, in the classroom, and the children themselves!)

I hate sharing my kitchen with my young ones, so when my incredibly patient friend offered "Foods. Jr." I jumped at the chance to sign up my crew.  On day 1 they made a fruit salad.

Here's Beowulf being taught how to cut all around a peach in order to cut it half and get the pit out.

Pixie is teaching 3 ballet classes and one Strength and Stretch class.  One teen boy signed up for Strength and Stretch and kind of made fun of the early stretches as "so easy."  Pixie stepped up the workout a notch and pushed him as hard as he could go . . . by the end of the work out he was a sweaty, shaking mess, but Pixie hadn't even broken a sweat. :)

Dancers are strong!

Nature Angel is taking two advanced art classes, Microscopic Biology, and Ballet for Tweens with Pixie.

Little Princess is taking Yoga, Lego Challenge, Ballet for Tweens, and Coding Unplugged--a creative problem solving class.

Ladybug is taking Yoga, Beginning Ballet, Foods Jr., and Cupboard Crafts (the second class I'm leading which is an unstructured crafting hour using whatever scraps and odds and ends the parents want to clean out of their craft cupboards--as "leader" I'm in charge of adhesives, establishing the theme of the week, and clean up at the end).

Mister Man is taking Storytime, Lego Challenge, Foods Jr., and Cupboard Crafts.

The littlest 4 are in Storytime (or Creative Movement--Lola and Baymax), Sensory Bins, Foods Jr., and Cupboard Crafts.

In addition, I got Belle to come to co-op this semester.  She's helping Pixie with Creative Movement the first hour, then she's taking Microscopic Biology, College Writing, and Strength and Stretch.

Little Princess gave Ladybug this puzzle, and she proudly put it together about 50 times this week.

During one of our Academy meetings, we saw how water can be solid, liquid, and gas when we first melted ice cubes then boiled the water.

Picking Belle up from the farm turned into a mini field trip for Lola and Baymax when we spent almost a full hour just wandering about.  These pigs are destined to become organic pork very soon.

Brother asked me to take a picture of his sand castle, but Baymax kind of stole the show.

The teens spent Friday night at the camp out, but the rest of us joined them on Saturday morning.  We brought 4 extra small friends with us--our usual babysittees and a couple of fun church friends.  Here are Nature Angel, Little Princess, and Friend O. heading out for the first kayaking trip of the day.

After a little while, the  young ones came back from the nature hike they took with Daddy and wanted turns on the water.  The older girls were delightfully obliging.  Here's Mister Man pushing Little Princess and our smallest friend out for what turned out to be a very brief trip.

 

While Ladybug waited for her turn in a kayak, she built a play house and set the table with shell dishes.

While the kayaks were out, the waiters had plenty to do exploring the shoreline.

After kayaking, we had lunch, and then we headed to the swim beach.  When we arrived we found a pack of boys--perhaps half a dozen of them ages 10-17) building an island out of lake weed.  They welcomed our young ones unreservedly, and over an hour passed in happy, cooperative construction.

Nature Angel found this tiny frog.

And these cute girls built "Shell Castle."  I didn't know how to do it photographic justice.  It was exquisite.

Once we were all exhausted, hungry, and sunburned (in spite of copious quantities of sunscreen) we headed to the main pavilion for snacks.  While the tween girls headed with Sir Walter Scott back to the kayaks, I put out a box of craft supplies to lure my young ones to the shade.  It worked.  And it sure didn't hurt that a couple of moms with nearly grown children patiently sat nearby offering first words of encouragement and then their very bodies! 

The day came to a quick close after that with the group photo, dinner, s'mores, and (for my family at least) the return trip home.

There are a thousand more stories of the day, and I am left with a profound sense of gratitude for friends who see us through this life journey of ours.  I am equally grateful to be their friends and hopefully serve and love them as they love and serve us.

An honest review of the week was that it was too full for me.  I had little to no margin in which to breathe on any of the days this week, and that left me fragile and irritable and quite near a breakdown by Friday evening.  I did not want to go to the camp out at all--even though I know I heal and love my family more when we are out of doors--because the preparation was overwhelming.  Somehow we got through it all, and the day was a marvelous blessing.

The week ahead is nearly as full as this last one, so I'm going to have to start making some cuts . . . it's time for some prayerful evaluation.


*
Oh!  Rose Red got a job at Chipotle! 

And she deleted some of her social apps from her phone in an effort to make some positive changes. 

And she came with us to the camp out (after I made her raise her right arm and swear a solemn oath to behave appropriately).

I keep telling myself not to hope, because she sets goals and dumps them faster than most people change their clothes.  But that whole deleting of apps thing is a bigger deal than I know how to describe--she's horribly (devastatingly) addicted to those apps.  I know that addiction recovery is a forward and backward thing, but I'm proud of my girl for taking a step forward! 

Even if it is followed by going backward soon.