Ups and Downs

Friday we had a very busy day! We did our school lessons which included things like three digit multiplication (as in 234 x 987 = ), reading lessons, early Native American history through the second lesson of Notgrass's America the Beautiful, algebra, and subtraction with having to borrow numbers in two digits (as in 27 - 9 = ). During which I began our five loads of laundry, that many because I stripped both girls beds to wash their sheets and blankets. We then took a walk to the store and had lunch when we got home. Followed by cleaning up the yard from the deck project (cold weather kept us from it for the most part) and more laundry. When Daddy got home from his day with Grandma and Papa we went for a walk, did more laundry, and went to the pet store for bunny food. Lastly we had supper (tuna noodle casserole), did more laundry, relaxed by watching Netflix, and did some crafting. WHEW! When I type it all out I feel exhausted! Right before bed we discovered that our electric hot water heater had gone out. We'll be trying a rebuild kit before buying another hot water heater and we'll get that probably Sunday while we're out. A few days of heating water on the stove for washing dishes and quick wash-ups of faces and arms won't kill us. (Just another thing to add to the list of things that need done. It never ends when you own a house and have children.)

On Saturday Peanut had another retreat for her catechism class first thing in the morning. It was supposed to last just an hour but went more than half an hour over. I learned that since we've been homeschooling I've lost all patience for things that take longer than necessary because you're waiting on over thirty other people to finish doing what took you less than five minutes to do. Perhaps I need to work on that some more now that I think of it. Patience is a virtue after all. After we got back from that we spent the majority of the day simply vegging out with movies on Netflix together and snacking on junk food. Popcorn lunch anyone? I, of course, spent most of my day crocheting. ECJ was in charge of washing his own bedding because it desperately needed done and at age 15 he can certainly do it himself. Sunday we went to early mass so that Daddy could make his appointment and I could go with him again. After which we stopped at a local hardware store to pick up everything that we needed. Oh, did I mention that our shut off valve for the children's bathroom toilet was dripping and needed replaced ... AND we now have a leak in the kitchen from the ceiling which we found out because of all the rain this weekend. Yeah! Fun! *eye roll* (Can you sense my sarcasm here? lol).

Sunday Daddy and I went to his weekly appointment first thing in the morning and then stopped at Lowes for the shut off valve for the kids toilet and the tune up kit for our hot water heater. Two trips to other hardware stores for parts and tools later we again had hot water and a functioning kids bathroom again! Showers and two toilets! These are the things that are romantic to me! Plus, I didn't have to cook again this night because Daddy bought subs for supper. A semi-relaxing, but definitely happy, start to the new week! I cannot ask for more! Celebrated the hot water being back by taking a shower which made me feel instantly more human and ready to face the week ahead.

On Monday we woke up late and still got lessons done before 1 PM. Which was a good thing because YCJ's appointment at the orthopedic surgeon was just after 2 PM. The appointment went well with the doctor thinking that there was just some fluid from the impact of the fall that had accumulated and would eventually dissipate on it's own and the fact that she probably bruised the bone which would also heal given enough time. We have an MRI scheduled for Thursday morning just to rule out any damage to any of the tendons because of how long her knee has been bothering her. But, we're all much more relaxed after seeing the doctor. She's cleared for our field trip with Noni for Tuesday so it's a great thing and will take all of our minds off of it even more! Tuesday we were all set for our field trip ... a trip to the bowling alley and a few games. Then, when we got there, they informed us that we had been misinformed on the phone and there was no open bowling. Instead of doing what we had planned we instead went to the mall and walked around having lunch at a local restaurant.

Wednesday we took the day off of school (meaning we'll do school this Sunday) to go down to Grandma and Papa's house. We cleaned up, went shopping with them, and took out their old living room furniture before their new furniture arrived. After a long day cleaning and working there we came home, cleaned more, and then took out our old furniture to bring in the furniture that had been at Grandma and Papa's house! I covered both the couch and the love chair with blankets so that they wouldn't get covered with dog hair since our dogs don't understand the concept of not getting on the furniture.

On Thursday we went to Daddy's appointment at the orthopedic surgeon, got rescheduled for YCJ's MRI until next week, and then came home and did lessons while Daddy had another appointment. After lessons were done we worked with clay to make art projects ... I didn't give anyone any guidance just allowed them to make whatever they chose to make. This is what they each came up with:

A dog and two ash trays

We'll paint them when they're completely dry.

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Posts you may have missed this week:
The Boy Called It - Book Review

Linking up with Weekly Wrap Up and Homeschool Highlights.