A Week, Briefly (8/24/20)

 Today (Friday) was good.

A Wild Day.

We went to the lake.

It was supposed to be a cool morning and hot afternoon, so I planned a hike and then playing at the beach.

But it was hot in the morning too, so we walked about a mile and called it good.

Lola loves her "egg hat."  How she wore it while we sweated our way through this walk, I'll never know!

We wandered off the main trail to follow the disc golf course through the woods.

And somehow, on the way back to the beach, we came up with the game of stomping on one another's "shadow brains."  Disturbing, but fun!

 Hike #25 of 52:  Smithville Lake

53.96 miles + 1 = 54.96 miles

We took only these pictures . . . none at all while we were on the beach.  We chose to leave the phones utterly alone and play together.

Though when Beowulf was trying to turn one of our big blue tubs into a boat, I sure wished I had clean hands and a camera on!

Oh!  How those kids worked at balancing and floating!

There were more problem-solving skills going on than I can list, and when they hit the point of frustration, I stopped watching and got involved, giving kids rides and then dumping them out as they squealed wildly and joyfully. 

We'd have stayed forever, but some of us get sunburned, even with sunscreen.

I've decided that our morning walks will count as part of our 52 Hikes.  This week we walked 3 mornings for a total of 2.2 miles.

We picked up trash on 2 of our walks this week, too.

  

Hike #26 of 52:  Morning Walks

54.96 + 2.2 = 57.16 miles

I don't have any idea how far we walked last week, so I'll leave it out.

On Tuesday morning we tried a field day instead of a walk.  It was crazy fun--frisbee, hula hooping, catch, and jumping wildly off the bleachers!  

However, even with 5, 2, and 1 minute warnings that our time was ending, we still had nightmare meltdowns over starting book work, and I've decided that a walk that has a clear beginning and end is far wiser on school days. 

Tuesday challenged us also because Baby Violet--a first cousin once removed to our kids--died after only 21 hours of life outside the womb.  Texts and calls flew back and forth between extended family members, and the grieving was (still is) real.  I blew off any school requirements, and only guided kids through activities when they seemed to want/need some normalcy.  It was a day of weeping, talking, listening, hugging, and praying.

It was also a day for bike rides.  Sir Walter Scott has been repairing broken bikes, and he fixed enough bikes to take kids out in groups on trail rides.  The 4 boys went first.  Lola got her own date with Dad because she can't ride a two-wheeler yet, and then the other 3 girls got to ride last.  (None of the oldest 4 girls was interested in going.)  After the rides, Dad bought slushies, so it made a dark day a bit brighter.

We had two telehealth meetings with Brother's psychiatrist, calls to Beowulf's psychiatrist, and some ABA telehealth observation time.  We're dealing with a lot of increasing violence, and we need help.  I am grateful for the kids' psychiatrists and therapists.

Mister Man lost his glasses.

Pixie finally got her stomach issues diagnosed when the pain and irritation interfered with her breathing this week.  She's got meds that are working, and she's only got one more week of work at the daycare before packing for school.

But . . .

we still got a lot of solid schoolwork done.

We added Nature Angel and Belle to our school schedule, which meant we had Colloquium meetings and 1-on-1 reading sessions for Belle and me.

I had no idea that Plato's The Last Days of Socrates was actually funny!

Belle and I laughed every single day we read.

Colloquium is joyful.

We hold our meetings on my bed!  (This is a great inducement to make sure it is made each day.)  While the younger kids have quiet time, we read, talk, write, and research--the girls have their first Civil War report due on Tuesday.

We're still working out the kinks in our daily chores, but Kindergarten is more successful by dividing it in half.  My littles do their arithmetic and phonics books right after our walk.  After a snack, they do reading and writing.  Doing their 1 hour of formal school in two 30-minute sessions is working better than trying for 1 hour all at once.

Little Princess has been helping a lot with meals.

Beowulf loves learning how to write in cursive.

Brother is working through his reading lessons at half pace.  Should his new meds make a difference, he may be able to handle a full lesson each day.  For now, though, I am satisfied that what we're doing is enough for him.

Ladybug is almost through reviewing her addition and subtraction facts to 15.  She knew them before our summer break, but lost them.  She'll be ready to start her final arithmetic workbook from Rod and Staff Grade 2 Arithmetic some time next week.

Super Star is working as many hours as she can in order to pay for her phlebotomy training.

Mister Man does his school work under the dining room table!

Nature Angel is adjusting to her school schedule.

So is Belle.

So am I.

Under it all is grief for our niece/cousin and her husband and the other members of our extended family that are most affected by the death of Baby Violet.  Though we believe in God, heaven, and eternal families, death still hurts those left behind.  We are doing our best to support and love our family members from over 1,000 miles away.