A Week of Many Activities, But No Photos

 I took pictures this week, but not of my kids.

They're all pictures of American Rhythm costumes because we had our costume return session, and as I put them away, I took photos, so that we can catalog them in a more organized spreadsheet than we currently have.

I'm also making cross-referenced spreadsheets, so that we can look up what we have by costume/accessory name or by bin number.

It is strangely satisfying.

The kids were invited to be stage hands for a play their friends are in (we cannot afford the co-op the friends are in, or we'd join them).  5 of my 6 younger kids volunteered immediately; Baymax abstained, saying, "I prefer to watch the shows."

I was worried that he'd feel left out while all of his siblings were involved, so I encouraged him to go to the first rehearsal and see if he liked it.

He didn't.

For exactly the reason he expressed beforehand.

I am humbled by his 9-year-old sense of self.

(But I'm still glad he went and knows for sure that he's happy to sit out an activity that so many siblings are enjoying.)

At any rate, the kids had 2 3-hour rehearsals this week, and they all (except Baymax) came home delighted with the experience.  They have one more rehearsal next week, then 2 shows to work, and the following week there's a cast party to which they are invited.  They are delighted to know that they will be issued "CREW" t-shirts to wear to show they are official.

Tuesday's usual church activities were canceled because of a service project scheduled for Saturday morning as part of the Global Youth Service Day. 

About 100 kids ages 11-17 gathered under the supervision of their youth leaders and picked up trash alongside a local highway.  The project was coordinated with the city, so the bags and safety vests were provided, and the full bags will be picked up by city workers.

I was delighted to hear that a driver or two slowed to yell, "Thank you!" to the kids, and another couple honked and waved to show their appreciation.  

It makes me wish I'd driven past while they were working to see what a sight they must have made.

Wednesday was a quiet working day at home.

We got more school done this week than you'd think.

In Morning Meeting, we finished reading The  Book of Mormon Family Reader.  I was wondering whether to start a full copy of The Book Mormon or pull out another one of our storybook versions, but then I decided to just pick up where we are in Come, Follow Me using the ScripturePlus app on my phone that divides the yearly reading into daily portions.  This way what I read aloud to the kids will actually match the Come, Follow Me videos and discussions we're already having each day.

The teens and I continued to read from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and our American Lit. text.  We finished unit one, which included a Cherokee Nation creation story, excerpts from William Bradford's journal about the Plymouth Colony, and excerpts from Mary Rowlandson's narrative of her capture and eventual release by Native Americans.

Nature Angel foraged for materials to make and mix her own paints as part of her Visual Arts Unit Study.

Little Princess is joyfully writing paper after paper about various aspects of outer space--from biographies of great astronomers to descriptions of modern astronomical tools.

 

The younger kids and I are still reading Summer of the Monkeys, Story of the World vol.1, Mama's Bank Account, The Lilac Fairy Book, and Sequoyah: Leader of the Cherokees.  They are invested in all of them, even if they say they are not, and I know this based on the number of emotional responses I hear as I read aloud to them. :)

We spent all of Thursday invested in hosting the costume return session and Mother's Meeting for American Rhythm.  We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned!  I set up the main room floors for various activities--Legos in the front room, games in the dining room, crafts in the kitchen, and miscellaneous building toys in the living room.  The mothers stayed in the basement.

We had nearly 30 people over, and we didn't have a single negative incident!

But I'm glad it's done because hosting exhausts me, and I don't feel that I'm very good at it.

On Thursday evening, the teen girls served at the temple with their youth group.  

On Friday evening, after the kids attended play rehearsal, we drove out to a homeschool choir event that several of our friends were part of.  They did a very good job!  

I don't know how our friends afford to be part of as many activities as they are.  I'd love to let my kids join the choir and the sports group and the chess club and the zoo classes and the drama club and, and, and, and . . .

But am grateful we can afford American Rhythm.

And I am grateful we can't afford the other stuff because then we'd run around as much as our friends do, and that would not be healthy for us.

Saturday included not only the service project in the morning, but two birthday parties for different kids to attend.  The first birthday party went just fine, but a massive rainstorm moved in as we tried to drive to the second party, and I drove through a puddle that spewed so hard and so high that it water-logged our van.

After a long night, we got safely home--without attending the party.

Our van is dead.

And the teen car (that we just got back after 5 weeks) died again on the way home from church.

Yup, the same problem for which we took it to the mechanic last time.

So we have no working vehicles.

Sir Walter Scott looks like he's been hit by a truck (as he tries to find solutions to no working cars), and I'm coordinating rides for the final play rehearsal and the camp fundraiser the kids have to participate in for us to be able to send 6 kids to church camps this summer.

Oh, and Sir Walter Scott and Nature Angel are leaving for Chicago on Tuesday morning for a father/daughter trip.

Good thing we have a rental car reserved for that!

It's gonna be an interesting week.

(Maybe I'll remember to take pictures)