Our Week

Monday
   I enjoy Monday mornings at home. We got going a little,  very little, later than planned. We had a full morning of school and after lunch we headed to get glasses repaired, pick up more paint and then to drop Levi off at his technology class before stopping for groceries. We try to plan any errands for before or during class to get out of town before the evening rush. 
Once home we unloaded and started chores and dinner. I love Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes! We spent the evening quietly watching baseball and then I called all all floor clean up. These people here love to leave EVERYTHING in the floor and that drives me bonkers.
As soon as I got Benjamin asleep I started painting in the girls' room. I deemed it a no tv night after baseball was finished so the older three played a card game while I painted.  Tonight I finished the second coat on three walls.
I watched a couple of episodes of Lark Rise to Candleford and went to bed.

Tuesday
Piano morning, out the door after pancakes and sausage. I didn't hold the baby much today, but all of the older Blessings took turn about.
After piano we went to the library and didn't rush anyone. Not even myself. At home we had lunch and got to the school work of the day. Benjamin was watching a newly acquired library dvd and I joined him and fell asleep. He did not.

Wednesday
Play time with friends and Daddy came home from his hunting trip, no animal this time.
The Blessings got some school work accomplished. We all got to go to church together for mid-week services.

Thursday
Daddy was home today but we had some school time and the Blessings gave their end of unit presentations for Daddy.
I left the house for a few minutes before dinner and when I came home Daddy was quickly fading. He has been sick for a couple of weeks and it all caught up with him. 

Friday
We nursed the sick and stayed in with Daddy just in case we had someone else get sick.
The girls and I put their room back together after painting.  The room has been cleaned, painted and the major furniture has been placed into the room. Tomorrow, we tackle the stuff.

Saturday
Benjamin woke me up around 2:30 am, I figured he was next to be sick and he was. About an hour or so later he was, I will spare you the details. But we got him cleaned up, changed sheets and attempted to go back to sleep. He wad feverish and just laid around all day. When he wasn't wanting Mommy to sit with him, I would be supervising the sorting through stuff. By the end of the day, the girls had their rooms back together and the dining room and kitchen were cleared and swept and mopped. I felt an urgency to get as much accomplished as possible today. And my urgency was real.

Our Week

Sunday

The snow began falling, church, home for lunch and a quiet afternoon, back to church and home again for popcorn.

Monday

The snow kept falling all day long. Levi had technology class so we ventured out for some errand running during and after class. Snow, snow and more snow. I have two dressers in the garage taking up my parking space so the snow and encouraged me to get those painted.

Tuesday

Benjamin and I ventured out to get some fresh air and I got a few pictures of the outdoor sights.

The dried up clover peeping out from the snow.

Elisabeth made cupcakes using the book Hello Cupcake. She chose the chefs for her first creation.

Preparing the ingredients

Wednesday

We had friends over and snowflakes were the craft de jour, school in the afternoon and church in the evening.

I cannot remember if these were from Wednesday or Thursday but these are of the Blessings working on various school work.

Thursday

An at home school morning and then the Blessings had a Leadership meeting. We have had a busy for us week so lots of going.

Levi showed me the sunset Thursday evening and I took pictures to share.

Friday

We spent the morning working on school and then we went a picked up friends and headed to buy paint (painting the girls bedroom) and then off to bowl. Home for pizza and a movie.

Saturday

I am glad I took the crew bowling because I pretty much painted until 4:30 when I ran out of paint. I then stopped and went to the kitchen and began cooking dinner for Saturday, muffins and banana bread for Sunday breakfast and starting on Sunday lunch.

I gave Benjamin a bath and put him to bed and then I joined him quite early.

A full but blessed week.

No Weekly Review

I will not do a weekly review for last week, I really do not want to recap that week. My FIL is still in the hospital and I really do not have any new news except that he has be a little more alert the past two days.

 

Benjamin discovered aluminum foil for playing.

Here he has food in his oven.

He set up two meals this particular evening while playing. He had milk, salmon, an apple, a pretzel on one setting and the other had a sandwich, milk and something else. He has a great imagination.

 

My wonderful husband reminded me to get the little guy outside when the temperature warmed up to zero. So, out we went.

I love those eyes.

Elisabeth attempting to slide down the driveway on a snowboard sized object.

Judith’s snow carvings.

Levi taking a break.

The Big Blessings and Mom. We couldn’t get Benjamin to play along with us. He was too busy trying to slide down the driveway.

Week In Review--Week Ten

Monday
Monday was a rough day for me. I am having a rough time falling asleep, no problem staying asleep but tough time getting there. I can see that Mom needs to work on getting outside every day. Note to self: Get outside every day. On the downside, I didn't get up for treadmill time but I did get a short/slow walk in before lunch. The treadmill is experiencing some electrical challenges and was stuck on a slow speed. If I would have turned it off it would not have worked at all so I took a slow 30 minute walk. I also began taking vitamin D today. A little late I know but sometimes I am a little slow on these things and I have felt well until I had that head cold last week. Most of the Blessings had a great school day today. One is experiencing a rough day...maybe that Blessing and I are on the same page with our energy levels. Nonetheless, we must endure and keep going. We have made it through to school area clean up/chore time. What is for dinner? I have not a clue, but it will be something easy for sure! Evenings are my high energy time so I can put some effort into straightening up and spending some time helping my rough day Blessing finish up a few things leftover from the day.

Tuesday
Piano and home for lessons after a quick stop at the library.

Wednesday
Our Friday, Dad is off on Thursday due to Veteran's Day on Friday. Got the school work finished and every one was healthy and able to be at church tonight.

Thursday
Dad and Levi went moose hunting...no moose today.
The girls and I baked cookies, made no bake cookies and I attempted a chocolate roll cake...epic fail.
We had our final sign language class. I had neck pain and stayed home with ice on my neck and Dad took the girls. The boys and I enjoyed an evening home alone even if I was down and out.

Friday
A day at home and an evening out. I just did little things here and there (like cleaning under and the side of the stove) and enjoyed the day as it came. We left after nap time and ran Judith's broken glasses to the eye DR's office before heading to a birthday party.

Saturday
I was given the gift of sleeping in, which I obviously needed. After sleeping in it took the rest of the morning to get moving. Once I got moving I got busy with cleaning chores and some baking. The Blessings went outside for some snow machine riding and Dad did whatever he does out there for a while. He is sick though, so he didn't stay out all day, just part. There was some football watching taking place and pretty much a lazy Saturday with some good work thrown in for good measure. We were all home so I am glad. I think my husband left a couple of times for things like a trip to the dump  but I was home all day...bliss for me.

Week In Review—Week Nine

Monday

Mondays at home are becoming some of my most favorite days, no distractions, just me and my Blessings and our lessons.

Tuesday

Away from home all day.

Piano in the morning then a quick stop by home to drop off backpacks full of school and piano books and pick up bags full of baby shower supplies. Then, off to grocery shop. I figured I should just make this a full day out of the home to avoid any other days out of the home…I am glad I made this decision.

Getting this shower together was so much fun. I have not worked on anything like this in a while so I did enjoy the process.

Wednesday

Before I got out of bed, I knew I was sick. Just a head cold. I functioned through our morning but by lunch time the Blessings were sending me to bed as they could tell that I was not feeling well. Off to bed after Benjamin made it down for a nap. I did not get up again until after I had eaten the soup that my precious husband brought to me. Everyone else headed to church and I hit the couch and spent the evening with the TV. I haven’t watched TV in quite a long time! The Bee Immune I had taken earlier in the afternoon had begun to help and I began feeling a wee bit better. Laptop arrived today!

Thursday

Felt much better when I woke. Still moved slow but functioned through the school day and managed to make dinner.

Friday

Older Blessings worked on school work until time to take Benjamin to library story time. Back home for lunch, naptime and finishing up school work for the week.

Saturday

We spent the day at home with some cleaning and a little cooking. We became wireless today with much thanks to our friend who came and set us up. The menfolk were out hunting for the day. I had to make a quick trip into town for a few things and then we were home for dinner, ironing, baths and bed.

Week In Review—Week Eight

Monday

I work really hard at keeping Monday a home day. We stayed home and got busy with our lessons.

I did have the opportunity on Monday evening to attend a parent/principal function for our school program. I enjoyed visiting with fellow parents.

 

Tuesday

Tuesday mornings we head out for morning piano lessons. We drive by this flag every week. I do not think I will ever tire of seeing this large flag whipping in the wind. And yes, this is the amount of daylight at 9 a.m.

Wednesday

Home for lessons, we have found a great groove in which to ride this school year and I am thankful.

Thursday

We worked through our morning schedule and were out the door to have lunch and play time with friends. It was a great time, all be it a bit loud but when you have eight children in one house….well, it can be noisy. But it was a good noisy with happy, playing children. Including these two two year olds. These guys didn’t get off to the best start this summer but here they are a couple of months older and they are great buds.

They pushed trains through the house and then they camped out. All such good fun.

Benjamin was “sleeping”

Friday

More school work but I also had a church dinner to prep for. I had one of those “You know you are a homeschool mom when you….have a Grammar lesson with your book propped open on the kitchen counter while you prepare food” kind of moments.

We enjoyed the International dinner at church and we got to see one of our favorite missionary couples. A good time for sure.

Saturday

Judith asked to make a pie for her Maine Geography project. Saturday left Judith and I home alone and the perfect time to make a blueberry pie.

Daddy had taken the rest of the Blessings on a short scouting road trip so it was a quiet morning at home.

The pie before going into the oven. The ME is not for me but for the postal abbreviation for Maine. Don’t tell Judith she was doing school work on Saturday.

Elisabeth has graduated to a shotgun but our lefty didn’t have her own gun. She decided that she was ready to make this big purchase so she and Daddy went to buy her gun today. A Browning BPS 20 gauge for bird hunting and she is a great shot. This gun drops the spent shells out the bottom of the gun so this works for my lefty.

This isn’t the full gun, just the stock but I got a couple of pictures anyway.

The finished pie and yes, I know her hair is a mess, this was late Saturday afternoon and she is 10, she is supposed to have messy hair.

Week In Review—Week Seven

Sunday

Church, Judith and I taught the 4 & 5’s during worship service. Home for a yummy lunch of moose roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, gravy and homemade bread. Judith made banana pudding for dessert, yummy!

We spent Sunday afternoon getting airline tickets for a spring trip to the lower 48, then back to church for evening service.

Monday

A good school day, much accomplished. When everyone finished their morning school work they headed out to play in the freshly fallen snow until lunch time. And they were right back out there after dinner.

Tuesday

When the Blessing woke up each one came in with complaints of not feeling well, Judith even seemed a bit relapsed as she has already had this for a couple of weeks. I notify our piano teacher and the honey lady that we were staying home. The snow was coming down all day so we did a little morning school work and then we rested all afternoon.

After dinner I was out the door for grocery getting. I missed my helpers!

Wednesday

Benjamin woke up at 4am and was up until Daddy left for work at 6 am…needless to say, we went back to bed.
We had a late start to our day. I let the big Blessings take their time getting going. I read aloud for a while in the morning and ended up finishing the book this afternoon. The girls feel better but Levi is still not feeling great. I did inform him that tomorrow was a regular school day. Daddy and the girls went to church tonight while the boys and I stayed home. I got a few household chores accomplished.

Thursday

Still had some not feeling so great kids so the school work was minimal but a few lessons were finished.

We are now into woodstove season so I needed to move a few things around in the family room to make things more manageable and eye pleasing for me. I did this right before bed and was quick about it. Still needs some tweaking but we will get there.

Friday

Dad had to work today so the day seemed odd, we were able to put in a full school day though.

I canned chicken stock after dinner and Judith, Elisabeth and I cut apples for applesauce. The apples were cooked and sauced and in the fridge before bedtime.

Saturday

Apple canning day. More apples to peel and slice for canning sliced apples and the apple sauce to can.

The canning for this week:

Applesauce in the front, apples in the middle and the chicken stock in the back.

I made pinto beans, cornbread, smoked sausage with potatoes, onions and peppers and we are going to have our first taste of the sauerkraut. Oh, and bread too! I had run out of wheat berries and was able to pick up more on Tuesday and it has taken me this long to make the time for bread making.  Needless to say, my house is a wreck but I have worked hard today and we are having leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

I do believe this is the first Week In Review that has been posted in a timely manner.

Week In Review—Week Six

Monday

Monday was Columbus Day and Daddy had the day off so he and Levi and Elisabeth went bird and moose hunting. Judith, Benjamin and I stayed home.

Tuesday

Piano and then home for school, we had a flurry of snow. We try our best to keep Benjamin occupied with his toys while we are in the midst of school work. Here Benjamin is playing with his wooden toys while the girls are working on their science. They are watching their pulse using clay and a toothpick.

Benjamin has his own desk due to the generosity of friends, thanks!!!

The dusting of snow…not much at all and it was gone quickly.

Wednesday

A quick morning of school and then off to a Doctor’s Appointment for me. Nothing major just a quick trip to the dermatologist to have a skin check. Good visit with a new Doctor, really like her.

Thursday

The guys go moose hunting again and the girls and Benjamin and I are home, I cleaned and other such stuff.

Friday

We headed into town to do a little clothes shopping, errand running and to pick up the girls’ finished pottery pieces. They took a month long pottery class and ended up making quite a few pieces.

Elisabeth and her pieces.

Judith and her pieces.

Friday night my wonderful husband had a rare treat to some time out alone thanks to a precious offer of a friend to come to our house and watch our Blessings!

Saturday

The guys went moose hunting again and the girls and I stayed in and enjoyed a very low key day. I didn’t do much cooking or cleaning since the house was fairly clean. I sewed up a skirt for Elisabeth and she sewed a pillow we had been planning too long to make.

A chemist came and tested our water for the second time due to a contamination from the refinery…we “passed” the test last year. This year they are setting anyone tested up with water delivery service. Oh my!

Week in Review--Week Five

Monday
A Monday at home, such bliss for me! We jumped headlong into our lessons for the week.

Tuesday
Up and at 'em to vote on the way to piano lessons. After piano we headed into town instead of heading home. Today was home school day at the Museum = free day! We met up with Kendra and her crew at the museum and had a grand old time seeing the sights and enjoying a few moments here and there chatting. Very few since we have eight Blessings between us! And two of them are two.

Wednesday
Just a plain old school day.

Thursday
I think this was just another day at home, pretty low key week. I enjoy low key weeks. I do know that everyone is finally getting the schedules down and they are realizing that they decide how long their school day is by how much time they waste....finally!
Judith and I went out to dinner and a little shopping, it is quite quiet with only one 10 year old with me.

Friday
Duck hunting for the guys, the season is almost finished so they only have a couple more weeks of good duck hunting weather.
Benjamin had story time at the library. He is finally beginning to watch the librarian and not the other kids.
During nap time I began cleaning the dining room walls, floor and curtains. I had to stop before I was finished to get dinner prepared.
We also made a late evening trip into town for a quick errand.

Saturday
The guys headed out for a moose hunting day but they didn't even make it to the highway when something went wrong with the truck. My wonderful husband was able to get the part replaced for free, thankful for warranties and a man that keeps his paperwork. He took Levi, Elisabeth, Benjamin and Emmy to town to get the part and he did some Sam's shopping! Yes, he is great. Judith and I enjoyed a quiet morning working through our chore lists and then she was able to talk on the phone with her friend who just moved away. (One of the downsides to living here is the ever moving revolving door in and out of Alaska) I am almost finished with the dining room and then I will move on to the kitchen! I am not used to working in such baby steps but I must need to get used to living this way for a couple more years at least?

Week in Review—Week Four

Monday

Monday morning is piano day, we have our lessons bright and early Monday morning so we are up and at em’ and out the door. The Blessings work on school work while we are at piano. When we return home we have lunch and watch any dvd’s we might need to watch for school work while we are eating lunch. Since we are away from home all morning we spend all afternoon on Monday finishing up with our lessons. This upcoming week we have Tuesday lessons due to our teacher’s schedule. I think we may just go back to Tuesday lessons if this week goes better.

Tuesday

A day at home! I greatly enjoy days at home. Well, we were home until after nap time. The Big Blessings had dental cleanings.

Wednesday

Another at home day which was full of lessons. The girls studied the cardiovascular system this week. They made very simple heart models with graham crackers, frosting and marshmallows. They enjoyed this snack for sure.

 

Thursday

Happy 10th Birthday to Judith!! In our Home School you get your birthday off. Actually, Judith and Benjamin are the only students with school year birthdays. We had a fun day at home, Judith enjoyed her presents and late that afternoon we went to the indoor mini golf and then the girls and I attended our ASL class.

Judith using her birthday gifts to write thank you notes.

  Friday

Fridays in September have ben crazy! I have been taking Benjamin to the two year old story time at the library and after that we are home to grab a to go lunch and head into town for pottery class. This week was our last pottery class!! I am so glad the girls had an opportunity to take this class just as happy that I am that the class is finished.

After pottery we headed to Sam’s Club for pizza and to pick up a few items before heading home to wait for the guys to arrive home from duck hunting.

Saturday

My wonderful husband and Elisabeth went upland bird hunting so I was home with three Blessings. We had a super lazy morning (much needed for me). Right before lunch we headed out in search for any late season berries that might still be out there (I think we gathered about a cup). I am glad we ventured out, the weather was lovely. Sunny and crisp, a great late season autumnal day. During naptime I watched a couple of craft shows on PBS and did a little hand sewing while piled up with a couple of Blessings. After naptime I realized that we must eat dinner and got busy getting something together. Saturday night is full of baths, ironing and general getting ready for Sunday morning. Dad did take everyone for a four wheeler ride while I cleaned the kitchen and started ironing, that was so pleasant to do those things in complete silence. 

Sunday

Everyone was well and we were all able to attend church as a family. Elisabeth and I taught Junior Church during the worship hour. This afternoon has been quaint with some preparations for our First Sunday Fellowship at church this evening. I have spent the day posting pictures to Facebook and getting prepared for tomorrow’s lessons (and posting blog posts). My Benjamin had his nap and I hear some out of doors fall clean up going on. We rest in the winter but when the ground isn’t covered with snow, we are very much constantly “doing” something around here.