A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

Over the weekend we had a storm.  It took out our rope-swing tree. This tree stood a good 30 feet tall before it fell.  Can you see the deer that came to feed?  They were brave!  They just looked at us and ate leisurely until I3 waved his arms and really yelled at them.  This is the week we said goodbye to our outside-the-home-homeschool activities.  This week's calendar was full to overflowing; next week's calendar is almost empty. The older kids are panicking, "What are we going to do?" I am answering, "We will breathe slowly and deeply." There are still church activities to attend, and the end-of-season soccer banquet is this coming week, and the homeschool camp out is only 2 weeks away.  It's not as though we're crawling into a hole and never coming out again. E15 finished up her first year of early morning seminary.  She only missed 2 days; one was for a vomiting-up-her-guts illness and the other was the morning after she broke...

Though Thursday was a hard day, overall, I am filled with more delight and joy in the life we are living than I can remember for a long time.  I'm still not very organized (for some reason meal planning is killing me, and I'm usually very good at that!), but I'm happy, happy, happy to snuggle Baby L, to look I3 in the eyes and listen to him tell me a story, to sit still while H5 styles my hair, to admire A8's most recent drawing, to watch J11's face as she reads a favorite book, to take S12 with me to the grocery store, to supervise M13 while she checks out Facebook, to plan and dream with E15, and to go on a date with my sweet heart. Our date wasn't terribly exciting by worldly standards, but it took monumental effort for us to get out alone together, and we enjoyed it. Our first plan was to go out on Friday night.  In the late afternoon I was helping E15 finish up a math assignment, so Dad headed into the bedroom to rest and read.  When the math book was ...

Soccer games started. M13 is the one in white on the right. E15 is the one with the bandana on her head--right in the middle of the action. S12 is #3. The girls have a winning season so far. M13 injured her ankle 2 minutes into the second game.  Assuming it was just mildly wrenched (like the last time she hurt it--while dancing) we wrapped it, elevated it, and watched it.  Looks like she might need a doctor. And on her way home from watching a soccer game at the field across the street, A8 fell and broke her arm. They let her wear the hospital gown home from urgent care. We're waiting to hear from the orthopedic dept about when we get to take her in for a real cast and to find out how long they estimate it will be on.  She's supposed to be baptized this coming Saturday . . . so thank goodness they make waterproof casts these days! We got the news that we're officially waiting for really big news.  We're preparing for a very-likely-but-the...

After one conversation with my husband, another with my mother, and too many days of tears and self-recrimination I am admitting that I need to be screened for post-partum depression. (There, that will make me accountable for actually making an appointment to see my doctor in the week ahead.) As for the past week . . . *I read chapter 2 (Honesty) of Standing for Something with the older girls. *We continue to have morning devotionals.  For the little ones we sing a primary song and read a Book of Mormon story .  For the older ones we read and discuss a General Conference talk from the October 2014 conference. *We watched a few documentaries:     Life in Cold Blood     The Bear Family and Me (This one was really, really good--even if it was a little bit hard on hunters).     How Things Are Made (this was a re-watch as some of the kids missed it the first time) *Soccer practice continued. *Dance rehearsals went on. *We att...

We tried to have school, but I was so unable to focus on anything that I gave up.  I couldn't get myself to make simple assignments.  Even reading aloud left me breathless and exhausted. We went on an outing on a weirdly warm January day. I left Dad with the kids at a playground and walked over 4 miles trying to kick labor into gear.  No luck. My mental state of being was bad.  It didn't matter what I knew with my rational mind.  I was sleep-deprived, exhausted, unable to breathe, unable to think, unable to laugh or find any sort of perspective.  I felt serious depression/anxiety fluttering around the edges of my brain.  I recognized the signs of needing help because I've been down that road before.  I needed the baby out NOW. But he didn't come out. I took the kids to their Explorer's Club meeting.  We all made valentines to be delivered to local Meals on Wheels recipients.  The kids churned out over 100 valentine...