A Week, Briefly (Mar 21, 2022)

 What a social week!

And we don't handle social weeks very well . . . at least my special 4 don't.

We performed in 2 shows this week because the weather cooperated, and because we were finally done with the stomach bug that took us down last week.

At this show, we were able to perform in full costumes to a small audience.  It was a new senior center for us, and we were uncertain about what to expect.  After the show, the director approached our director and told her, "There's a lady here who never speaks.  While she watched your show, I saw her mouthing the words of the songs the whole time.  I've never seen anything reach her that way.  Please come back."

This show was at an old familiar location, and we did a black-and-white show because in the past there wasn't a dressing room available.  Well, this year there was a new director who gave us the hugest dressing room we've ever used!  I hope we'll do full costumes in the future!

These are such cute square dancers!!!

After this show the activity director called our director in tears expressing her joy in the spirit and light we brought to the center.  We're not professional quality dancers--we're pretty much the quality of dancers that only parents and grandparents can love--but the sweetness of the kids' sincerity, and the rock solid patriotism really speaks to our audiences.

 

I made sure to have the shows be the only school/activity on each show day, and I reserved lots of white space as well as making sure they stayed well-fed all day each day, but they still got just plain mean!  The stomping, bickering, talking back, and general complaining makes me wonder if being part of this group is actually good for them . . .

But they love it in the moment!  They sing and clog all of the time at home.  They talk about dancing; they get excited for practices; they vibrate with joy during the shows.  

And it's service!

We are serving our community, and I don't want to end that.

We have two shows left this season (which ends on April 30).  Then we'll have a break until mid-August, so I'll have lots of time to ponder and pray.

Beowulf and Brother both had several violent breakdowns this week.  Our safe room has been in constant use, but Brother still managed to start a beating on Lola, and we had a near-miss preventing him from bashing in yet another window.

(How grateful I am it was a miss!)

Sir Walter Scott is transcribing taped interviews with his dad and uncle who have now both died.  The kids saw the mini tape recorder and asked, "What is that?  How does it work?" prompting a lesson in 20th century recording technology.

"Arrgh!  I'm a pirate!"

The piano is now back in the piano room (which was turned into Lola's room for a few years).  I love how moving it makes the kids want to play it more.

6 am Greek lessons for The Duke and Nature Angel. (It was spring break for the local schools, so no seminary!)

Little Princess leading a musical circle time

Little Princess whipped up a batch of cupcakes for church youth night.

Babies entertaining babies during one of our shows.

More social time for our teens--You Are Loved 2022.  The girls had a blast, coming home with lots of happy stories and goals and plans.

And after almost a full week of rain, the lure of the mud was strong enough to get kids into swimsuits (it was only about 60 degrees outside), so they could sculpt, "cook," and play in the mud.  Clean-up at the end of the day was overwhelming enough that Baymax said, "I'm NOT playing in the mud again!"

Belle and Nature Angel were able to attend a church dance on Saturday night.  They're still asleep, so I haven't gotten feedback yet.

We are now about halfway through Black Ships Before Troy, and we've only got 100 pages left in Farmer Boy.  The kids love both stories, but Farmer Boy is definitely more loved.  

Lola had a really good school week!  She's been asking for extra math lessons, and I've happily obliged.  Her reading fluency is slowly growing.  I'm loving seeing her progress!

Baymax's math lessons, on the other hand, I'm limiting to two a week.  He likes math, and he seems to be good at it, but I'm still leery of kids moving too fast so that they end up trying to learn concepts that are beyond their cognitive development.  He's continuing to read and narrate The Beginner's Bible, and he's still doing Explode the Code 2 1/2.  He is a comfortably fluent reader.

The forecast calls for alternating days of rain and sun, and I've decided that the call to the garden is strong enough that we're going to have a spring break based on the sunny days each week.  This week we're going to be out-of-doors on Monday and Tuesday, and then we'll do school and dance while it rains the rest of the week.

So far, it looks like we'll follow the same pattern for the week after, but I'll make more certain plans as the days pass and the forecast becomes more certain.