No Fools Day

April first has always been a day that I dreaded having come around because I have some natural jokers in my house. So, this year we decided that instead of it being April Fools Day it will be April NO Fools Day. All day long you must tell the absolute truth and cannot pull any jokes on anyone (since jokes and tricks are daily occurrences in our home). At first ECJ balked at this idea because April Fools Day happens to be one of his favorite holidays but he came around when I told him that I just need one day a year with no jokes or tricks. One serious day for this very serious mom.

Friday, the last day of March, we all woke up relatively early for us by choice. That's right! We had absolutely no reason to get up so early! Daddy and I enjoyed about two hours of absolute quiet in the house before the campers even woke up. This is such a rarity in our home that it was a decadent treat. Two whole hours to be a couple just spending quiet time together without kids walking in and out of our room asking a million and one questions was just awesome. After the campers got up and ate breakfast Daddy and I ran to the store for more rabbit food (this time we bought several pounds at once so maybe we won't be buying more next week but we probably will anyways) while the campers did their chores. Just like on a farm the first thing done after breakfast is taking care of all of the animals ... unlike farm life we don't have to get up early to do it. We began our lessons around noon and were done by 1:30 PM. This is also the day that Daddy cut his hair and beard and instead of doing two loads of laundry during the day I did just one in the evening after Daddy's shower. Being Friday we had fish and fries for supper, unlike usual Friday's I actually used store bought fries and smothered them with cheese! MM mm good!

Saturday, April No Fools Day, we didn't have lessons scheduled. And I didn't have a full load of laundry to do. So, other than taking care of animals there was literally nothing on the agenda to do! We played with the rabbit, watched movies and shows, worked on individual craft projects, and basically hung out together. No one pulled any tricks on anyone else and everyone was honest for the entire day! It was so peaceful ... just what I needed.

On Sunday we all got up relatively early just because and got ready for the day. While Daddy was getting ready for his appointment he noticed that some birds were trying to make a nest in the vent for the stove ... lovely. He scared off the birds and asked me to keep an eye out for them coming back then he left. We did lessons within an hour while he was gone and then YCJ jumped in the shower while Peanut got dressed for the day. Yup, we're those homeschoolers that you hear about that normally wear our pajamas all day long and don't worry about it, getting dressed only when leaving the house. Proud of it too because we work best when we're comfortable. ECJ jumped into the shower after his sister. And then we were all ready for when Daddy got home. We went to see Grandma and Papa this day just for the fun of it. Of course we helped out by running the vacuum and whatnot while we were there but mainly we were only there for a visit. After our visit we drove around for a while picking up scrap metal and then headed home for a late supper and bed.

Monday we got up and paid all of the bills that we can pay electronically while drinking our coffee. Then Daddy went outside to organize the scrap metal before taking it back to the scrap yard. We used to scrap on an almost daily basis but now only do it a couple of times a month when we are down by Grandma and Papa's house towards evening because where we live it takes a long time to gather enough scrap to make it worth taking back to the yard. Every penny counts in this house! We all went with Daddy to the scrap yard and then to complete our monthly errand running that we do every month on the third ... like the water bill and house payment. Daddy made BBQ chicken for dinner and we all watched a movie before bed. I had already scheduled off for this day of lessons because we're never home all day on the third of the month.

So, on Tuesday our day was basically flipped upside down. YCJ had her appointment for the MRI at 11:30 so we took care of that first thing. I even went into the room with her for the test. Call me an over protective mamma if you wish but I do try to go into almost every appointment that all of the campers have. The only time they are alone is during their pediatric dentist appointments, and that is after several visits to the dentist and the children now trusting where we go. The MRI went off without a hitch and then we came home. Daddy took ECJ out to pick up some scrap that he'd been called to pick up and I did lessons with the girls, mainly math (addition and subtraction for Peanut and fractions for YCJ) and a lesson in our Notgrass America the Beautiful history book. The girls and I are really enjoying this history work. So far their favorite thing is the map work. When Daddy and ECJ got home ECJ did his lessons for the day at the kitchen table. Unfortunately there wasn't any outside time to play today because for the second day in a row we had that misty not really rain rain falling. 

When I sat down on Thursday to update this post we lost power and it was out until 7 PM on Friday! So, instead of updating with the normal "we did lessons yadda, yadda, yadda" I'm just going to say that I am really happy that the electricity is now back on! I apologize for the lack of pictures but my phone and computer aren't talking today for some reason. Hopefully I can fix that by next week!

You may have missed this post this week:
The Lost Boy - Book Review


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