Week 12 - Christmas Break

Sunday we didn't do much of anything. We sat around the house doing our various hobbies and relaxation things (meaning I was crocheting while most everyone else was on electronics or watching Netflix) and we went to mass in the morning. On Monday the biggest thing that we did is that Peanut and I spent part of the day together making two cakes out of leftover Halloween cake mix and frosting (neither had milk product in them which made them OK for SweetPea to eat due to her milk allergy). This was another day of mostly relaxing together and hanging out. Monkey had to work in the morning and Daddy had a MRI on his head, due to chronic migraines, in the afternoon. It really wasn't a very busy day though.


Tuesday Noni came out and we picked up lunch from Burger King and then a movie from Red Box to watch while SweetPea and Little Man napped (Monkey worked this day as well. We watched Nut Job 2 and found it very entertaining. Sometime during the day we finished eating the rest of the cakes. After Noni left, having dropped off her Christmas gifts for the children, we spent the rest of the day relaxing and hanging out together.


On Wednesday and Thursday we had pretty laid back relaxing days, with nothing much going on. Wednesday morning Monkey had to work for a few hours and on Thursday afternoon ECJ helped me bake a batch of fudge like brownies with cherries baked right in (the secret to this batch was two jars of baby food because I needed the jars for an experiment on Friday with the girls). I took a break from crocheting both of these days. For the most part we relaxed and watched Netflix, doing nothing more than spending time together. Even during these days of relaxing laundry was done each day ... in a family as large as ours laundry is done daily or it piles up until it gets out of control. Water and gas bills, along with electric bills, be darned ... clean clothing is a MUST. 

Friday and Saturday were much of the same as the rest of the week. Though we got the results of Daddy's MRI on Friday and found out that there is nothing physical causing Daddy's migraines! This means that there is no tumors or growths causing the migraines which is an awesome thing! Next appointment for Daddy is the neurologist to see if they can come up with a reason for the migraines and a pain management doctor. But, we're on our way to getting answers.

Obviously, we didn't do too much of anything really on our first week of Christmas break ... we have two more weeks to go! Maybe we'll be busy and maybe we won't we'll just have to see! I'm going to wish you a Merry Christmas now (though if you follow us on Facebook or Instagram you'll get a few photos that you won't see here on the blog) as I won't be posting again until January 5, 2018! 2018, y'all!!!! It's right here, around the corner! My how this year has flown!

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Week 11 - Off

Saturday Daddy had an appointment in another town so while he went to that Monkey took a family friend to pick up some things at WalMart. ECJ watched Little Man and SweetPea while they took their naps and I pulled out all of our Christmas decorations to be put up sometime over the next few days. After that, while I waited for everyone to get home I worked on the blanket that I need to finish (really should have started it earlier in the year). Laundry was happily working away in the machines and I was drinking coffee like it was going out of style. Video games were played and YouTube was watched, some cleaning got done. There wasn't a whole lot of things that were exciting this day and we didn't do any lessons that were planned to be finished this day since I was fighting being tired ... I suffer from bipolar disorder and S.A.D. along with depression and anxiety and during the winter months when it's cold outside and the skies are mostly gray it's harder for me than the rest of the year. Yes, I am medicated for my conditions but that does NOT mean that it's easy for me. I still struggle to get out of bed some days, putting a smile on my face when I'm not in the mood to but to keep the children happy is sometimes hard, and everyday things become monumental tasks. BUT, I know these things about myself and keep on trucking every single day. The battle is worth it and with God and my family's help I always make it through until spring when the sunshine returns and it's easier to face each day with a real smile.


On Sunday Monkey and the grandkampers went to some friends house while Daddy, the campers, and I went to church with Grandma and Papa. We followed that up with a breakfast at the church with Santa and then we decorated Grandma and Papa's house with them for Christmas ... getting the tree up and the train going around the base of the tree. The only thing that we didn't do was get the decorations up on the tree itself. Grandma and Papa would be spending a little time each day during the week getting that done themselves. We ate pizza that day for supper with them before heading back home.

Monday Daddy went to work and I worked for awhile on some crochet projects that I had planned while I also spent time with the children. We had planned on doing school this week, but at the last minute I decided that we simply were not going to do it this week. Monkey spent the day cuddling with her children. When Daddy got home it was NCIS on Netflix and more crochet.

Tuesday I had an appointment in the middle of the day that Monkey took me to after her job interview in the next town. She sat in with me on my appointment and we were slightly entertained. When we got home it was another relaxing day just spent hanging out at home doing not much whatsoever but doing it together.

On Wednesday Noni came out to take the campers and I to the movie theater to see The Star!!! Before we left we found out that Monkey had gotten the job she had interviewed for the day before! When we got to the mall to go see the movie we found out that we had the theater all to ourselves for the entire movie! The movie was truly awesome and we completely recommend it to all Christian families as a must have for your movie collection, especially for this time of year. We'll be purchasing it as soon as it comes out into stores. On our way home Daddy text me a photo of the tree being up in our living room that he and SweetPea had put up together while Monkey and Little Man had taken a nap. Let me just say right here that I've had our tree and the decorations out in the living room since right around the day after thanksgiving and we've just gotten around to doing this ... my Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) is in full swing early this winter type season and I just haven't been my normal holiday self this year. And in the evening we attended a supper with Santa in our community that the children really enjoyed each child came away with a gift/surprise and I got awarded a $25 gift card for Target!!!

Thursday Daddy and I watched SweetPea and Little Man for a while while Monkey went to work at her new job, I tried (and managed a cat nap) to take a nap with Little Man while SweetPea took a nap. Another quiet day around the house ... we didn't even decorate the tree this day. I crocheted, working on a hat for Monkey as a quick Christmas gift, and we continued to watch NCIS on Netflix. 

On Friday we were a little more festive and actually all got involved in decorating the Christmas tree. None of my breakable, vintage, or collectible ornaments went out this year due to little curious hands. My small glass nativity scene also stayed in it's box this year as I'd rather not take the chance of it getting broken after being gifted it nearly twelve years ago by Grandma and Papa for Christmas. Our tree looks like it was decorated by nothing but children and love this year and that's entirely fine by me, every time I look at it I smile widely and think that that's exactly what Christmas is made of. After the youngest two went to bed for the most part (six week old Little Man doesn't sleep through the night yet, so ECJ offered to watch him) Monkey, Daddy, and I played music and hung out together to do some celebrating of the season. Turning on some old bands and singers to enjoy music that we don't hear every day, dancing and using muscles that we'd mostly forgotten that we had, and just generally enjoying each other's company. I also finished the hat I'd been making her ... it's my take on a slouchy messy bun hat and she loves it!

Saturday Daddy had an appointment out of town and the campers and SweetPea went outside to play while I watched Little Man. Lots of fun was had in the snow. The beginnings of a snow fort was made, snow ball fights were had, a snowman was built, and just lots of fun was had. I'm typing up the last few sentences now as ECJ shovels out where the vehicles park and Monkey makes lunch for herself and the girls, Little Man is asleep in his bouncy seat behind me and SweetPea is napping in her bed. I can bet more relaxing is on tap for the rest of the afternoon with all this cold and snow flurries...

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Week 10

This past weekend we didn't do a whole lot of anything. No one was feeling particularly well, although I did go Christmas shopping with a family friend to help him pick out a few items. I also began working on a gift for one of my nieces (that I really have to hustle on but haven't been feeling up to it) ... perhaps we'll simply buy all the Christmas gifts this year and I'll give the handmade items on birthdays or Easter. That little triangle will turn into a twin sized rectangular blanket for my niece's bed. If I can get myself together enough then I'll be able to get it finished by Christmas, I just need to dedicate a couple hours a day to getting it done ... this might mean a later bedtime for me.

Monday we did lessons and got caught back up from last week where we took an extra day off. We also managed to finish going through ECJ's, Monkey's, and mine clothing/dressers (we found a garage sale on Saturday and were able to get two dressers for $10 total!) sorted out with four trash bags and one small bag of clothing to donate. ECJ was a big help to YCJ with her math this day (and indeed most of the week). The girls are adjusting still to using the Prairie Primer as our English/Science/Bible curriculum. We also started an Advent study following along with the author of Exploring Nature With Children to do a Bible based, nature themed, Advent lesson per day. It's been really fun!

Tuesday we ended up taking the day off of lessons, spending most of the day doing various other things that I cannot for the life of me remember as I type this (this is really why I have to get back into writing notes each day to keep myself up to date each week). On Wednesday we were happily back to lessons and the girls were still bothered by the fact that ECJ was finished before them ... this will not be the case much longer as his online studies will be kicking back in AND he has three research papers to give me by the end of the year this year (tenth grade, y'all). I went to Daddy's doctor appointment with him while YCJ finished up her math so Monkey did history with the girls from our Notgrass: America the Beautiful curriculum. The rest of the week we have the Prairie Primer and math scheduled for the girls so it shouldn't be too bad.

My Monkey!

Thursday we woke up with both SweetPea and Little Man not feeling the best, Peanut had the sniffles again as well. A quick talk with Daddy and it was agreed that we'd take this day off of lessons as well ... this means we've taken about a straight month worth of lessons since around the time Little Man was born. Now I understand why a lot of mom's take off a month or two of school when they have a new baby in the house! Those little bundles of joy can really take a while to get used to their routines and figuring out how to do lessons with them around. Not that I'd trade a single moment of it! I absolutely adore all of my grandkids and am enjoying having them live with us. Chores were done first thing in the morning after breakfast, with about four of us playing pass the baby while eating and chores were accomplished. Monkey went with Daddy to work to help him paint this day and while I typed this up ECJ had both babies to look after since the girls were working on cleaning the rabbit cage and SweetPea can't be in the room when they do that because she's allergic to the rabbit hay and food. I have no idea what's planned for the rest of the day, other than lots of fun with babies!

Our plans so far for the weekend means that at least one day out of the weekend we'll be doing some lessons. This mamma really wants to get back on track ... even though that track is only in my mind and we school year round so we're really not behind even though this is JUST our tenth week of school when we should be more like on our fourteenth or so. See? It's not just you who freak out at the thought of being behind, or going off track, or are you doing enough. I do it too! I'm willing to bet most of us do. 

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Thanksgiving and Week 8&9

Saturday Daddy had an appointment in the next town over that he went to in the morning, after I spent about an hour cuddling in bed with my grandson, Little Man. There's even a picture of me doing so. After coffee and beginning some laundry (both Monkey and I have laundry to do this day so there will be running machines all day long) I deboned some chicken and shredded it for chicken sandwiches and tacos. We saved the chicken broth from cooking the chicken overnight in the crock pot ... not sure what we're having for supper this night but we have options and I'd like to stop at the grocery store sometime today. Daddy had to go to work after he got back and this time I went with him to do my little (*new*) part time job of cleaning a lady's apartment for her since she recently discovered that she needs some help in that area. After this we did indeed stop at the grocery store to pick up a little bit of things that were needed in the house. SweetPea and the girls spent the majority of the day playing together nicely and Little Man got his first sink bath (still no submersion because his umbilical cord is still attached).



The rest of the weekend and the week was literally a blur. We didn't get lessons finished ... or even started all week long. We spent the majority of the week continuing to adjust to having a new baby in the house. Nothing all that complicated happened.

The following weekend Daddy and I took over Little Man and SweetPea for the night on Friday night to allow Monkey to get some sleep. She'd had an exciting day finding out that she started her new job on Monday (yes, she got cleared by her OBGYN to go back to work). She slept like a rock most of the night knowing that we had the babies. Saturday and Sunday we didn't do that much except for some errands and a good long nap on Sunday for myself and Daddy. ECJ is suffering from a bunch of sinus drainage and is feeling miserable. 

Monday Monkey, her hubby, and Daddy all had to go to work in the morning. This left me with five kids ages 15 - 2 weeks! I knew that I could handle it but it was a bit daunting to think about it. I had lots of help though from the Cracker Jacks. I got a load of laundry folded, another load started in the washer, settled Little Man in his bouncy chair for a quick nap and decided that we'd tackle at least this day worth of lessons as soon as SweetPea took her nap. Really there weren't many book lessons to do on the plans because next week we'll be starting The Prairie Primer for the girls! Yes, Peanut has finally finished her language arts book from last year and YCJ is close to finishing hers as well so we're just going to call it finished. I'm very excited! We haven't kept up on our Exploring Nature With Children lessons for the past couple of weeks so we'll get a nature walk (in the cold!) to look for some lichen in this week. 

On Tuesday we didn't do anything lesson whise but we had a very busy day... The campers are all suffering from sinus issues this week, as are the babies and most of us adults. It's not a head or chest cold, it's literally just sinus drainage and pressure causing us much issues with the way we feel and our general moods. Monkey and I did some errand running and took one of Daddy's friends to work ... later in the evening Daddy and I picked his buddy up from work. After Daddy had had a full day of work he went down to Grandma and Papa's house to help clean up in preparation for Thanksgiving. Wednesday everyone woke up not feeling all that well, but people who needed to work this day still got up and went to work. The babies napped well this day and after their midday nap one of Daddy's friends came by to hang out just as Daddy got home from work. We spent the afternoon visiting with him and Daddy took a quick nap while Monkey and I did even more visiting. Daddy just wasn't feeling that great this day and had to go back to work around 4:30 to meet a contractor and help someone to move to their new place. We had leftovers for supper this night (although I made chicken soup for the girls who really weren't feeling all that well) ... we spent the majority of the day relaxing as much as possible due to our sinus issues and the cold weather.

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we woke up relatively early and got ready to go to Grandma and Papa's house to help with making the meal and having everything ready for the afternoon. Daddy, the campers, SweetPea, and I all went down to Grandma and Papa's house shortly after waking up, eating and doing morning chores. We helped Grandma do what was needed around the house and finish prepping for supper. Supper was spectacular and we ate like kings (though this is the first year in a long time that I didn't take second helpings and skipped the pie). Everyone had a wonderful day.

That weekend (including Friday) we pretty much relaxed and hung out with each other. A friend of Dad's came over for the entire weekend and camped out on the couch, enjoying our company and making for a fun weekend.

Monday we began our lessons with the Prairie Primer , which is a literature based unit study of the Little House books that includes everything but math. The girls are really enjoying the new unit study and are finishing up their math text books from last year still. It was a long day with the Prairie Primer since I hadn't looked at how many pages I had printed off for worksheets that I'd found online and I really should have split it up over two days. Each week only has four days scheduled for lessons so on the fifth day of the week we'll do projects and catch up on any other lessons besides math and history that we'll do five days a week.

Tuesday we continued those lessons from the Prairie Primer and had a bit of an easier day because we knew what to expect and there was only one worksheet that I'd printed out for the day. The girls are beginning to enjoy this new way of doing school... On Wednesday everything went the same as Tuesday, except that ECJ went to work with Daddy for a little while to help him move some things for a resident. Then ECJ took not only each of our dogs for a walk but took one of the neighbor dogs for a walk as well. We had kielbasa and sour kraut with mashed potatoes for supper. 

Wednesday and Thursday sort of run together with lessons and chores all being completed on Wednesday. And then a rather large Christmas shopping trip with Noni and I on Thursday. We went to several stores and finished Noni's shopping for Christmas for everyone. This made for a long afternoon, but a very productive one. I also finished an order for a friend ... it's a hat for her child based off a Paw Patrol character (modeled by Monkey).

On Friday Monkey had an appointment with both SweetPea and Little Man at nine am ... so, I went with her. We cancelled lessons for this day and moved them to Saturday so that after the appointment Daddy and I could run and do several errands that needed done. We were gone until early evening and picked up pizza for supper.

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