A Week, Briefly (August 15, 2022)

 Pixie left at 5:00 am Monday morning, but it was only 11 days before my trip to visit her at school, so it wasn't goodbye for very long.

Sir Walter Scott and I didn't make plans to celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary, but Little Princess made us a mini cake that we shared in our room while the older girls graciously took care of dinner and bedtime routines.

Next year we need to have a party!

We had an outbreak of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease, so we quarantined ourselves while we waited for the virus to run its course.  It was very mild for all those who got it, and most of us didn't get it at all, but we wanted to be careful.

We still went on walks every day.

The weather is finally settling into temperatures comfortable enough to make walking a joy instead of a responsibility.

I assigned the older girls some history readings followed by mini-essays in response to the readings.  They are good writers!!  

They each worked on some math and science, and one day I asked them to respond artistically to a quote on happiness.  Nature Angel dove enthusiastically into an all-day drawing/painting project.  Little Princess agonized over the assignment in spite of me giving her several options/suggestions.  In the end, she chose to copy several quotes in her best handwriting, and that satisfied us equally.  She does not like art projects!

One of the days Little Princess felt really ill, I asked Nature Angel to organize the kids into a play about one of the stories we read-- Saint Kenneth and the Gulls.  She was far more reticent than I thought she would be, and I had to offer her an out before she consented to do it.  With me in the room to keep kids cooperating, she proceeded to set up backgrounds, organize costumes, assign roles, and organize the kids.  I was narrator and photographer . . . being far better at narrating than photographing!!

Toby kept lying down near the seagull cliffs, so he got his own seagull costume.

Mister Man played the Great White Gull, and The Munchkin was okay with being the infant Saint Kenneth in a basket on the water.  However, when the gulls took him to their cliff home, he started crying and had to sit with Ladybug for the rest of the play.

Sugar Bear was happy to step in as the growing Saint Kenneth, and she was even happier when the doe (Baymax) fed her real Cheerios.

Brother and Ladybug played two roles each--starting as the wicked prince and princess who cast Sir Kenneth upon the waves of the sea and ending as the sweet shepherd couple who tried to adopt Sir Kenneth as their own.

In the end, Sir Kenneth (Baymax now) grew up among his beloved family of gulls, beloved of the people of the rocky sea coast.

I thought the whole process was delightful, but I'll have to find out if Nature Angel is willing to be director ever again.

On other days the kids illustrated and narrated the stories we read.  

We finished Elizabeth Blackwell's biography.  We all admire her to no end!

We started Sarah, Plain and Tall.  Every time I read it, I am stunned by the spare poetry of this book.  The kids are deeply affected as well.

And one day, we read Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln by Patricia Polacco.  Seriously, the kids were almost out of their seats with the drama of this picture book.  

We're well into Little Lord Fauntleroy.  Sometimes I wonder at how wordy the book is, but the kids are staying focused, and they are smilingly predicting that the earl is going to become nice because of how nice Fauntleroy is.

I went to the library alone to return old books and borrow new.  I liked the chance to curate a collection for the week, and even though the kids complained at first that I didn't get anything good (i.e. Pokemon, unicorns, or Lego), I've found them deeply engrossed in most of the titles I brought home.  I wonder if we should alternate weeks when they come to choose on their own, and weeks when I bring books home.  I'd like them to practice choosing their own books, but I also want them to fall in love with the good literature I can choose . . . ultimately learning to choose good literature on their own.

We didn't manage a music appreciation session this week, but I sat down at the piano myself 3 times to play on my own.  Each time, my practicing turned into toddler experimenting!  My goal is two-fold--to actually dust off my own skills and inspire the kids to play and perhaps ask for instruction.

Little Princess had the best adventure of anyone this week.  She was able to fly a plane!

One of the municipal airports near us offers kids the chance to fly with a volunteer pilot in his own little plain.  We've never done it before, but with encouragement from the girls' church leaders, I signed up Nature Angel and Little Princess.  When we ended up with a shortage of drivers and child watchers, Nature Angel gave up her spot in order to help at home so that I could take Little Princess. 

Best. Sister. Ever.

Little Princess was able to fly with a pilot in a two-seater plane that he used for flying lessons, and he turned the control stick over to her for a while. 

Obviously, I could only get pictures from the ground!

In the end, she earned 1/2 hour of FAA flight time legally entered into her flight log.  It turns out there will be another free flight opportunity next month, and you can bet she'll be there!

She glowed all day!

Mister Man got to make breakfast for everyone on Sunday.  It was just instant oatmeal, but he got to measure water and run the microwave, and I got quiet time on the couch. :)  He likes doing it, and I hope it leads to further independence in the kitchen for him.

Next week will be a 4-day school week because I leave for Idaho before dawn on Friday morning.  The kids get a Dad weekend, and I don't know what he's got planned!