6th Week 17/18

Over the weekend Papa gave us all a scare and went into the hospital overnight. It ended up being an inner ear infection which caused an episode of vertigo which had caused him to fall. This happened Friday morning. By Sunday afternoon he was feeling up to a quick visit from us, so the girls (including SweetPea) along with Daddy and I stopped by Grandma and Papa's house to visit. We grabbed them some fruit from the store while we were at it because Papa was out of his fruit that he eats with breakfast. We then went scrapping for a bit and stopped at two parks where the campers and their niece had an absolute blast playing!

This past week was a catch-up week for us. We've been off schedule for a couple of weeks so we used this week to catch up on lessons really quick. This meant that we only had two days worth of formal lessons using the text books ... but we had a wonderful nature walk and then a really fun evening of painting pumpkins together. This week in Exploring Nature with Children it was pumpkin week! Next week, due to there being five weeks in this month, we'll be having a break week from this awesome curriculum. If you haven't purchased it yet then you might want to do so ... the price is going up at the end of October.

Painting pumpkins

We are still in the review stage with the girl's work so they're not learning much of anything new except that Peanut is now able to multiply 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4's up to 9 ... sometimes with help and sometimes all on her own. I think that it is time to purchase Times Tales for her. I have heard wonderful things about this DVD and figure that it certainly cannot hurt for her to try it. Perhaps she'll be able to multiply faster than I can after watching this DVD a few times. ECJ is still struggling with his creative writing ... but he's resigned that it's part of his curriculum this year. He also began having guitar lessons this week with a friend of ours who is giving him lessons for free (this is WONDERFUL!). 

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5th Week 17/18

Saturday I went with Daddy first thing in the morning to drop off some scrap at the scrap yard and then we stopped at a store on the way home. Daddy had an appointment a couple of towns over so he went to that while Monkey took her hubby to a job interview and then to put in another application here in town while I watched SweetPea (and of course the campers). After Daddy got home we did a couple more quick errands and then brought home Taco Bell for supper. Followed that up with a late evening trip to get some ice cream for everyone and then it was time for everyone to start getting ready for bed. Though neither SweetPea nor Peanut slept very well this night.

Photo bombed while
peeling potatoes!

On Sunday we all pretty much slept in and didn't end up going to mass. Daddy and I did a tiny bit of scrapping just around our house (down the road a bit) and then came home. The campers had done all of their chores and were getting ready for lunch when we got back. Daddy made stuffing and stuffed the turkey for supper this night before taking a nap. I updated the blog and crocheted while Monkey, SweetPea, her hubby, and the campers settled in to watch movies for the majority of the afternoon while the turkey baked ... avoiding the severe storms that were expected (though we mainly only saw the high winds). Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and spinach were what were on the menu for supper. The girls all got their medicine and were in bed kind of early this night because SweetPea had skipped her nap (on purpose this was done so that she'd sleep better).

Playing with Littlest Pet
Shops while SweetPea
sleeps.

Monday Monkey's hubby had an interview in the morning and got the job. All of us were awake and the campers and I were doing lessons when he came home from his interview. After lessons we all basically did what we always do (except for a quick run to the next town for an errand) until Daddy came home from work and then he and I went scrapping a bit. Tuesday was pretty much the same thing just done over again. I didn't have to run to the next town to do anything this day so that was a bonus and the day went pretty much exactly as planned. We did not go scrapping this evening as it really wasn't worth it.

On Wednesday  after chores and breakfast we did some lessons and then spent the day hanging out again. After Daddy got home from work he and I took the girls with us to meet up with a friend and then, after dropping the girls back off at the house with some pizza, we went scrapping. Supper this night was homemade potato soup. 

Leaf drawing by Peanut
for last week's nature
study.

So, on Thursday, we had informal lessons all day long while Daddy and I went to appointments in the next town over followed by a run to the scrap yard after taking apart scrap and reloading the truck. Daddy and I had several places to go in the afternoon and evening so we were in and out of the house until med time. After meds, and a quick run for bananas and grapes by Daddy and I, the campers all went to sleep.

Tree drawing by Peanut for
this week's nature
study.

Now it is Friday morning. I have no lesson plans written for today ... we'll be doing our nature walk and study. I have an errand to run with Monkey around the middle of the day and Daddy will be going down to visit Grandma and Papa by himself this evening. I haven't made plans for supper tonight yet (I'll get to that) but I've already sewn my king size comforter where Moragon ripped it apart last night and have thrown it into the laundry to start. We don't have spectacular plans for the rest of the day or the weekend but we'll be busy I'm sure.

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4th Week 17/18

Saturday was a busy, interesting, exciting, and thrilling day. We woke up and Daddy and I ran a couple of errands in the next big town over and then came home. While we were gone the campers had done their chores for the most part (we were to find hidden stashes of dirt later as we were cleaning). Then Daddy and I spent the majority of the rest of the day cleaning the house, removing carpet tiles that just caught the rabbit mess and made it heck to clean up, taking some building supplies out of the house to the trash, and generally making our house a lot more clean. We were surprised late that evening by our eldest daughter calling and saying that she was here in Michigan. We drove out to meet her and have her follow her back to our house and didn't get home until around three in the morning.

On Sunday we tried to wake up early to get to Grandma and Papa's church, but that just wasn't going to happen. We actually woke up a bit too late for mass at our own church. BUT, we spent some time together with our daughter, son in law, and granddaughter. We did a little scrapping around our house, then loaded up the girls (including our granddaughter) and did a little more scrapping down by Grandma and Papa's house, finally we visited with Grandma and Papa for a bit (where our daughter and son in law met up with us). After that Daddy took our son in law and ECJ back out scrapping again while all of us girls came back to the house. We did manage to stop by a park while we were out with the girls scrapping. I made a chocolate poke cake with chocolate/raspberry frosting for desert this night. We had Daddy's chili this night for supper.

Monday Daddy had to go to work first thing in the morning, the campers and I did lessons while Daddy was at work, and of course laundry was done. After lessons we did some more cleaning, ECJ and our son in law took apart scrap with Daddy as soon as he got home ... and then Daddy and I ran to the scrap yard. After we got home and relaxed for awhile Monkey (my eldest daughter) made homemade chicken nuggets and mac and cheese for supper for everyone but Daddy and I. Daddy and I had fried zucchini for supper this night.

On Tuesday we spent most of the day relaxing after lessons, chores, and baths for all of the girls in the house. We ate leftovers for supper this night and Daddy and the guys replaced the back breaks on the truck. All in all it was a pretty easy going day. Wednesday went pretty much as expected, we took the day off of lessons because Daddy was in and out of the house most of the day and hanging out with us ... so we took advantage of it. Daddy and I ate fried zucchini and some tomato/onion/cucumber salad for supper. Bed time has been a process of staggering SweetPea (my granddaughter) and the girls bed times because they're all sleeping in the same room.

Thursday we did lessons right after chores and breakfast. Lessons didn't take very long and Daddy was home pretty quickly from work. We picked up the girls from the house and went scrapping, stopped at a park and played and did a nature study of fall leaves (from Exploring Nature with Children) for our nature study this week. We got home relatively early and picked up pizza for supper, gave the Peanut her medicine, made sure that YCJ took her medicine, and then the campers watched Despicable Me with Monkey and her husband while SweetPea went to bed.

On Friday we didn't do lessons again. Monkey took me to my doctor appointment and then we cleaned the house while Daddy was at work and ECJ and Monkey's hubby took apart the scrap. When Daddy got home he and I went to the scrap yard. We stopped at a couple of stores on the way home and then Daddy picked up Monkey's hubby (he'll get a nickname next week lol) and took him to pick up more scrap from a customer. Monkey and I took SweetPea to the store with us to pick up pull-ups and some yarn ... we left the campers at home to relax. Soon I'll be making baked chicken legs and some green bean casserole plus some corn for supper and we'll be following our new nighttime routine.

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Shortened Third Week 17/18

Friday we rounded out the week of lessons and got them all finished by around 11:30 in the morning. Daddy was at work and I followed lessons with some laundry and vacuuming. After we had everything straightened up I went into my room to crochet, this being Friday the campers have FULL access to their electronics for the weekend ... this means that once lessons are finished on Friday there are no restrictions to their electronic devices again until Sunday night. I had no major projects to finish with my crochet, just wanted to work on my gift for a friend who likes lemons. After Daddy got home he and I ran to the store, when we came home I doctored the cooked chicken that I'd had going in the crock pot for chicken casserole, I shredded the chicken and then added it to a couple of creamy soups and some cheese with noodles. It turned out very well!

On Saturday we hung out around the house with each other. Watched a lot of Netflix and chilled. Sunday we went to mass and then went scrapping near our house followed by a trip down to visit Grandma and Papa. After a quick visit where we did a couple of things that Grandma needed help getting done we went scrapping around their house. We stopped and bought everyone a soda pop and stopped at two parks while we were out.

Monday we were scheduled to do lessons, but instead took apart scrap and cleaned the house and bedrooms. It's about that time of year that we begin to go through all of the clothing that we have and donate what we no longer fit or no longer like ... also we switch out the summer clothing for the fall and winter clothing. ECJ took apart most of the scrap while the girls worked on cleaning their room. I vacuumed the house and did some laundry. After Daddy got home from work he and I ran to the scrap yard and then Daddy went back to work for a little while. Later we picked up some pizza for the campers for supper and got ourselves some fish from Long John Silver's. Our evening was spent watching Netflix, eating popcorn, and attempting to relax.

On Tuesday Daddy and I had to run some errands first thing in the morning and we didn't get home until around quarter to noon. Just as soon as we got home Daddy headed off to work and the campers and I made sure that lessons got accomplished. It only took about an hour or so to get all of our lessons done for the day. After Daddy got back from work he and I went scrapping in the next town over and once we got home I made bratwurst and french fries for supper. After supper we watched Step Dogs on Netflix and ate ice cream for desert.

Wednesday rolled around and we woke up pretty early. Noni came by after Daddy went to work and we went to the mall a couple of towns over from us to have lunch and window shop. After a quick trip around the merry-go-round we went to Walmart where I bought some shoes for ECJ and Peanut and some groceries for the house since we were running low. After Noni dropped us off and Daddy got home from work Daddy and I went scrapping down near Grandma and Papa's house, which is about an hour ride from our house but there wasn't much scrap around us this night. When we got home I made homemade tacos for supper.

So, on Thursday we all got up relatively early ... but not too early. Daddy had an appointment a few towns over so after he left to go to that ECJ started unloading the scrap from the truck and taking apart the scrap. Peanut turned on Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and curled up on the love seat to watch it. YCJ watched Netflix after taking care of Sugar Baby the rabbit and cleaning her cage. I did folded a load of laundry and started another load after changing mine and Daddy's bed linens. After Daddy got back from his appointment we loaded up the truck and went to the scrap yard. The campers stayed home and hung out together. We ran a few errands and then came home and relaxed. YCJ made pancakes for the campers for supper and I made Daddy and I some fried zucchini.

Friday, the end of the week has come. Daddy went off to work right after drinking some coffee, the campers and I started lessons, and I threw a load of laundry into the washer. Lessons were done within two hours, including the girls drawing their renditions of the harvest moon for Exploring Nature With Children. ...

Currently I'm finishing up this blog post while the dryer hums along and the girls eat popcorn for a snack. ECJ is in his room hanging out. After Daddy gets home I have a few errands that I must run and tonight we'll likely be eating homemade tacos again (so yummy!). 

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