A Week, Briefly (6/17/19)

Saturday evening at the spray park

It was a peaceful week that ended badly.

But it was a peaceful week . . . a week that began to feel like summer.

*We had breakfast at the park on Monday.
*We hosted the missionaries for dinner.
*Nature Angel conducted the last day of Kids' Camp.

It was themed Hansel and Gretel.  They colored as they listened to the story, and then they went outside to paint magic pebbles, have a scavenger hunt and other fun activities.

*We went to a library presentation about native wildlife--kind of like the last one but with fewer songs and more science content.  I forgot my camera.  The kids got to pet another snake and a box turtle.  They also got to handle fox, coyote, beaver, skunk, and opossum pelts, hold a beaver skull, and study a bat skeleton.
*We studied forgiveness and the crucifixion of Christ for Morning Meeting.
*We practiced being kind in the face of meanness during Myself and Others.
*Church activities were held for everyone 8 and up on Wednesday night, but everyone went with Dad because I had a temple recommend interview at another church building.  The under-8s helped Dad buy chicken feed and then played in the gym while they waited.
*We met dance friends at a spray park for an outing that ended up lasting nearly 5 hours!
*We watched a big, dark storm roll in on the first day of summer.  Then we tried to play at the park but ended up at a friend's house because another storm rolled in.
*We read books (the teens and I started All Quiet on the Western Front for our summer book club meeting).

Our summer laundry folding system--accumulate clean laundry for 2-3 days and then have everyone help fold it together.  6 huge loads folded and put away in 20 minutes!

Pixie went to job orientation and training for her new amusement park job.  She interviewed at a daycare (for the infant room!) where she longed to work, and they longed to hire her, but they were firm that she had to be available until 6 pm.  Dance starts at 5 pm 3 nights a week.  Pixie had to choose.

Dance it is.

Though she is still mourning the chance to love on babies all day every day.

As her mom, I'm finding it bittersweet to watch her have to say no to wonderful opportunities in order to say yes to following her dreams.

Super Star worked and worked and worked.  She likes her job at Freddy's very much.  She likes her paychecks even more!

In between shifts, she worked on finishing her One Year Adventure Novel.  She is at the end, and she's struggling with the final battle before the resolution.  I'm pleased to find open tabs on the computer showing that she is researching how to write effectively, vividly, and accurately.  Her school year may be much longer than planned, but she's growing and learning.

Belle finished science, so she's officially done with her 9th grade year!  She's stuck at home because she neither drives nor has a job--and not because she doesn't want to.  She'd work hard and get out more often, if she could find a way.  In the mean time, she read The Work and the Glory, a 9-volume historical fiction series about the early days of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in 4 weeks.

She did get out and about to volunteer at the farm, attend youth night at church, meet up with dance group friends at the spray park, and go to a church dance.

Nature Angel researched and wrote a talk about Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles that she will deliver in church on Sunday.  She also prepared to help teach a lesson for her Young Women's class.

She and Little Princess also worked for hours on restoring the hairstyles of some beloved dolls.  They studied YouTube videos, called their grandma, and went to work with a will.  At the end, their dolls are all beautiful again.

These two also worked on making doll houses for miniature dolls.  Nature Angel is making a lovely 3 story townhouse.  Little Princess spent countless hours painting the exterior of 2 boxes, so that they will make a charming little "brick" house.

Little Princess also gets to deliver a talk in church for primary, the children's organization.  Her talk is about the crucifixion of Christ.  She spent many hours with open Bible and open computer tabs preparing her 2 minute talk.

Ladybug seems to be responding to her med.  She's more at ease in her skin, and not quite as ready to engage in risky behavior.  She's also not a zombie.  Instead she's active and imaginative.  She was argumentative all week long, but not violently so.

She completed 4 more math lessons, week 23 in her spelling book (the word "whose" will move along into week 24 because it was just too hard to master in a week), 4 more New Testament stories and narrations, and she worked on "aw" and "au" in reading.

She got to make a painting during youth night at church, and at first Sir Walter Scott and I were distressed by how black and dark the painting was.  Sir Walter Scott came home saying, "All of the other little girls had pictures with flowers and suns and bright colors, and then there's [Ladybug's].

In the morning, I asked about it, and she said, "It's a robin in its nest at night."

Suddenly I could see it clearly!  How could I not see it before?

It may be dark, and that may reflect the state of her mental health, but drawings of sleeping birdies in their nests are not actually worrying--they're good.

Mister Man got braces!

He read library books, played at the park, rode his bike until he fell off and scraped his hands, swung on the swings, did his chores, played games with Lola and Baymax, and was a goofy, annoying little brother all week long.

Brother had a good week that ended in a nightmare tantrum Friday night.  But the week was mostly happy.  He pushed the wagon around the yard, dug in the sand pit, played at the park, did his chores, listened to stories, did his best to follow directions, and seemed to be a mostly happy kid.

The tantrum seemed to come out of nowhere, but truly, the tantrums seem to come on days when we're away from home in a place where he has to mind his manners.  People are charmed by his sweetness and obedience, but when we get home, he collapses.

We were supposed to have a park day with friends on Friday morning, but one family was unwell, and though we waited through the morning storm and met up with a couple of other families, a second storm blew in almost immediately, and we sought shelter at the house of one of the families.  We had a lovely time visiting in their home and gently celebrating the 7th birthday of one of the daughters, but minding his manners in an unfamiliar place took its toll on Brother (at least that's what I think based on his collapse after a play, after his cousin's graduation, after Pixie's graduation, and after this indoor play date).

Friday night was long and hard.

I sincerely hope Brother follows his usual pattern of quiet cooperation the "morning after" as it is time for me to wake the kids for a new day in just a few minutes.

At our favorite spray park this bucket dumps every 15-20 minutes.  The kids all gather as they see it getting close to dump time and count down and scream in unison as the water hits them. :)

Beowulf was also mostly happy.  He didn't have a toileting incident all week, and he got dressed and did his chores with few reminders.  He played happily almost every day; I can only remember one really bad tantrum this week.  However, he seems to be regressing into making a lot more animal noises--mooing, whining, high-pitched keening, panting--than he was a month ago.  I have not been calling him in for school lessons. I think I will try to give him 15 minutes of one-on-one attention each day and see if that helps.

Nature Angel took this picture of the rushing water that is usually a friendly little trickle at the park. 

Lola and Baymax are learning to clean their rooms.  That's my pet project for them this summer.  Every day this week I cornered them (one at a time) and spent 5 minutes directing them in how to pick things up and put them away correctly.

Neither one likes these lessons, but I think they're learning.

Otherwise, they play outside, they play games inside, they sing and imagine and listen to stories.

I'm worried about Baymax's tantrums of late (they're nothing like Brother's), but Lola hasn't had one in a while.