While the Girls Were at FSY . . .

We settled into survival mode. 

On Monday, they had to check in at FSY in the late morning, and I thought that since it was Juneteenth, we might have a baby-free day.

I packed a picnic and asked Sir Walter Scott to take the 6 younger kids along for the ride and for a date-with-Dad-outing because I was hoping to get some work done all by myself.

However, first, two babies showed up (Mom was still recovering from surgery, so she needed help getting through the day), and then two more babies showed up (Mom was in the hospital, and Dad is a manager, so he had to go in to take care of stuff even on a holiday).

By this time, the kids knew there was an outing offered, so I sent them happily off to see their sisters settled into their dorm rooms, and I settled in for a busy day with 4 babies ages 2-4.

I did not take pictures because my hands were full every minute.  With all four kids coping with the strangeness of life with sick or missing mamas, they were very needy.  I spent all day trying to fill their little buckets.

Sir Walter Scott and the other kids, though, had lots of adventures!

If you haul your sisters' stuff up to the dorms, I guess you earn the right to play in the closet!

They had different roommates and were in different FSY "companies," but they paused together for a minute before going their separate ways.

Leaving the big girls to their fun, the rest of the kids and Dad found a playground, had a picnic, then found some good hiking.

They came home with slushies (Dad's special outing treat for them) and a whole lot to tell me about their day.

With the big girls gone, we put In Search of the Castaways on hold and read our construction unit story, The House that Lou Built.  

Baymax was angry--Lou isn't a good role model at any time in the book, and there's a lot of content that I edited on the fly--he said he wouldn't listen to such a terrible story.

Honestly, I sympathized with him.  If the other 5 hadn't been invested in the book, I'd have switched stories.  But because I could edit and because we were really hoping for a positive development in Lou's character, we read it.

Baymax went to bed early each night.

We filled him in on the plot the next day.

The weather is in full summer mode, so that means we play outside in the morning--usually with water--and we hide indoors in the afternoon and evening.  I organized various sensory play activities; we went to a spray park one day (no pics of that--I was busy!); we played in the yard; the kids played games; I handled naptime for 6 small people on my own each day; and every day felt much the same as the day before.

Oh, yeah!  The chickens were a major attraction this week!  

I wonder if it's because we're down to only 8 or 9, so there's lots of room in the chicken yard.

Ummm, Baymax!  You're not a chicken!

One of the days, I got out some water beads.  Knowing that they're considered dangerous, I kept a close, close eye, and we didn't have any problems.  They are a source of wonder for all of the kids--ages 1-12.

Oh, and I'd whipped up some bath gel foam at some point, so the water was foamy all week.

He's blowing bubbles!  Not sucking in water beads!

But this dude is trying to eat the water. 
It's always amazing to me what is NOT gross to little kids. 
(I stopped him.) 

Some cooperative play

Well, Brother actually is sucking on a water bead, but he's only holding it to the end of the straw with his breath.

This container had an opening in the lid that was just large enough to shoot water beads out!

The mags on a mirror invitation was a fail for the littles, but these two loved it.  I'd extend the play somehow, but The Munchkin accidentally broke the mirror when he was trying to help clean up.

And when I said I handled naps alone, I was actually wrong.  My crew helped keep littles safe and calm while they waited for their turns at settling down for naps.

After this initial reading period, he followed me around the house for days, sharing facts about various gems and minerals that fascinated him.

So. Much. Playdough.

And so much imaginative play.  They assigned themselves roles as various kinds of bakers.  They kept up a steady stream of conversation about who they were, what they were baking, who would buy it, how their careers would develop, how they helped each other, and so much more!

I included 3 pictures, but there are several dozen on my camera roll.

I let the kids cut potatoes for lunch one day.

Brother walked in on the activity too late to join ostensibly because I was out of cutting boards. 
(The job was so close to being over, really.)
He said later, "We need to buy more cutting boards."

Shaving cream.

Some of the kids didn't like it, so they played in other areas.

The big kids always want to be part of sensory play, so I set up a big kid table, too.

This little man never gets tired of filling and dumping!!

Eventually, the shaving cream table was deserted in favor of picking and eating mulberries.

He "baked" a cake.

I've been wanting to paint our picnic table for a long time.  I got a little bit bored outside one morning, so I pulled out some sandpaper and shared it around.  

They loved helping, and I had a sanded picnic table (and benches!) in under an hour.

Win-win.

I finally set up a glue board.

It's a board, glue, and lots of random stuff.

The kids are free to do what they want--glue things to the board, play with the random stuff, empty glue out of the bottles . . . the only caveat is not to undo someone else's work.

I'll put it out several more times over the summer . . . maybe even into the fall.  When it's really full, we'll take pictures and admire it until we're ready for a new board.

Brother got tired of his basketball rolling into the woods when he missed a practice shot, so he spent a whole afternoon building a 12" fence out of scraps of PVC pipe.

I need to get a picture--it's quite the accomplishment!

I packed up the kids and headed out the door at 6:00 am on Saturday morning to make the trip to FSY to pick up the older girls.  

They had So. Much. Fun.

They have bajillions of pictures that mean nothing to me and everything to them.  

I went through and chose two:

This one because it shows what their days were like,

And this one because it is peaceful and green and shows these youth engaged in quiet conversation.

The quiet one is also included because the ones with kids playing games and being noisy are all kind of blurry--or are videos.

There were 800 kids, 50 or 60 (more?) counselors, a couple dozen teachers, and an unknown number of support staff.

They played games, attended classes, set goals, danced, sang, and made new friends.

They haven't stopped talking about their experiences, and I'm so glad!

We finished the book about Lou and her tiny house on Saturday evening.  By this time, Lou was finally accepting consequences for her actions, and she and her mom were communicating clearly, so Baymax chanced listening to the final few chapters. 

It had a happy ending.

It's going back to the library . . . it will be forgotten in the long run.

I completed Nature Angel's transcript information for this school year.  She had a great year!

I've got to start writing assessments!!!!!