School of Life

Ok, sorry that there's no pictures this week. I did take pictures but already posted them on Instagram and Facebook. There were only a couple and so I decided not to repeat them in this post. So, if you're not following Homeschool Campers on Facebook or Instagram, now might be an awesome time to start doing so as there's sure to be plenty of pictures posted on both while the weather is warmer!

And, I didn't take notes all week long ... nor did I sit down to update this post every night as I usually would. Yup, again life happened and I just wanted to relax and crochet once the babies were asleep. I've had mainly early nights myself sleeping all week long, in bed usually no later than 10:30 (which, is early for me considering that I used to stay up until at least 1 AM). 

This week we did lessons each day except for Tuesday when Noni came out to watch movies with us. I'd love to tell you what we watched, but I can't for the life of me remember. We'd rented three cartoons from RedBox and I made Bagel Melts for lunch (I'll include the super simple recipe for those at the bottom of this post). We also had appointments almost every day this week!

Saturday was Saint Patrick's Day! We celebrated by cleaning Monkey's room (O M G - so much stuff!) and I made Corned Beef and Cabbage in my crock pot version of the Instant Pot! It turned out so good! Follow this link for the recipe to make it using either your crock pot or Instant Pot. I also crocheted for a while and watched part of the fifth season of Game of Thrones.

So, here it is Sunday and I'm catching you guys up on my not so exciting week worth of life. We just had so many appointments and so many campers and grand-campers doing all kinds of things to do with life that it seemed like the week passed before I knew it was even here! Today we went scrapping (and got a load almost as big as our summer loads!) and then I came home to do laundry, wash the washing machine, get the ham in the oven for Sunday night supper, make ranch/bacon noodle salad to go with the ham, and juggle grand-campers and campers while they came in and went back out into our nearly 70* day!!!

I'm going to leave off here with a big smile and go outside and play with all the kiddos until the ham is done in the oven.

Bagel Melts

• onion or plain bagels
• cream cheese
• ham or bacon
• onions - sliced thin in circles
• tomatoes - sliced thin in circles
• favorite kind of melty cheese (we usually use mozzarella or provalone)

Place open bagels on baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350*. Spread cream cheese on top of bagels. Top with ham, onions, tomatoes, and cheese. Bake in oven until cheese is melty and slightly browned. Serve. 

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In Like a Lion

Saturday and Sunday at the beginning of this March were spent entirely relaxing and spending time as a family. I made quick and simple meals so that everyone could continue to just hang out with each other. We did not end up going to mass on Sunday because our car needs it's brake line fixed and our truck just doesn't fit everyone so that we could all go. Instead we did some Bible reading, prayed the rosary together, and had some intentional prayer for those whom requested that we pray for them. The campers and grandcampers watched a lot of Sponge Bob Square Pants and other movies like Despicable Me 1&2 and Minions. The spent both days getting along and hanging out with each other. We also watched Aliens in the Attic together as a family. Sunday, Grandma and Papa stopped by our house while out on a ride!! They brought us two paper bags filled with newspaper to use in the bottom of Sugar Baby's rabbit cage AND three twelve packs of toilet paper! (Yup, I'm a mom that gets excited over toilet paper lol)

Monday and Tuesday we worked on some basic stuff with everyone. I got out the flashcards for ABC's, 123's, Multiplication, Division, Sight Words, Adding, Subtracting, and major land marks throughout the world. We made a game of school both days. Daddy had an appointment on Tuesday morning with the neurologist (everything has come back normal, it doesn't explain the migraines but I'm still very thankful) and Little Man and I went with him to the doctor's office. Both Cracker Jacks and Peanut, plus Sweet Pea, stayed home while we went to the doctor office ... and other than spilled on clothing for Sweet Pea everything went swimmingly. Of course Sweet Pea isn't yet two years old and we're all very well aware of how messy toddlers can be. Monday night I made turkey meatballs, mushroom/onion gravy, and noodles for supper while Tuesday night we had a "fend for yourself night". On fend for yourself nights the children can pick whatever they want to eat and so long as I don't have to cook it for them they can eat it. I cheated a little bit and took over the oven to make four personal pizzas for the kids who could eat them (I didn't want anyone to get burned because the Cracker Jack's aren't yet used to using the oven with a toddler in the house). Daddy and I ate subs for supper and (most exciting to me) Little Man ate a bowl of rice cereal!!! He just started eating cereal so he's still practicing on how it goes to eat something other than a bottle of formula and I'm being reminded that I have to try to remember what ages babies eat certain foods again. (Any tips or pointers for that, please feel free to comment!)

Movie night!

On Wednesday I figured that it was time to get back to the book lessons, we really have several books to finish by the end of August so that we can "grade up" when September rolls around. We school year round so I really don't see this as being a problem, but with the past several months being more unschooling than book learning I feel that need to check those boxes that certain curriculum is completed. So, out came the Prairie Primer for the girls as we began Little House on the Prairie , the second book in the nine book series ... we're really enjoying this unit study and I might pick another next year (but, more likely, we'll be using The Good and The Beautiful language arts exclusively). After book lessons the campers went back to working on individual projects: video creation and editing for both girls and online computer program program for ECJ. We topped the night off with watching Aliens Ate My Homework and Daddy's Home 2.

(SweetPea was giving him a pat on the head)

Thursday and Friday were pretty uneventful. We did lessons both days, the campers played video games, the grandcampers watched lots of Spongebob Squarepants season 2 as they both are very entertained by watching the same episodes several times each day (we rotate the three disks every three days, they just pretty much get played on repeat as background noise when we're not doing school or watching other movies together). Little Man still isn't enjoying tummy time too much but we got him a new jumper this week and he's absolutely loving it!


Saturday and Sunday (ok, I forgot to publish this Friday) ... Saturday we spent much of the day grocery shopping, leaving ECJ in charge on and off all day long of the younger children. He's very up to the task and for the most part doesn't complain (though there are days he doesn't like being the responsible one). We managed to completely fill our refrigerator and both the regular freezer and the deep freezer! We only need to pick up some canned goods for the pantry sometime during the week. We do our main grocery shopping once a month so being able to fill everything, and possibly not need to buy as much meat next month, is wonderful! Saturday night both Little Man and SweetPea had issues ... Little Man slept fitfully on and off throughout the night and SweetPea did much the same and constantly wanted "Aba" (her grandfather, my hubby)... for that reason Daddy and I were both very tired Sunday morning and almost overslept and missed mass! But, we did wake up and manage to get four of the five kiddos ready (ECJ stayed home as he doesn't have his driver's license yet and there are not enough seats in the truck for seven people), get out the door, and drive the 45 minutes to get to Gaga and Papa's church for mass! We enjoyed mass, had breakfast with Daddy's sister and Gaga and Papa at the church, and then went over to Gaga and Papa's house to visit for awhile. The time change really threw us off all day long, eating meals at the wrong times because of it ... getting caught up in cleaning the house Sunday afternoon/evening (and putting together SweetPea's new bed!!!) to the point that it was seven o' clock before we were eating supper! 

And SweetPea is sleeping in her brand new big girl bed!!!

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February 2017

Ok so it's Sunday, February 4th, and I'm sitting amid my family while ECJ plays Call of Duty WW2 with a friend, YCJ is watching YouTube videos, Monkey is napping with Little Man on the love seat, and Peanut and SweetPea are playing amongst the chaos. Daddy has gone off to an appointment that he has nearly every Sunday. We missed mass this morning because most of us are still getting over the creeping cruds, praying that we're better any day now. The campers have plans of playing Minecraft on multiplayer survival mode together later after the grand-campers go to bed. When Daddy gets home we're planning on turning on Game of Thrones season two and vegging out (meaning he might take a nap while I crochet and mostly watch the shows), and for supper tonight we're planning on scrambled eggs and fried potatoes. It's currently still snowing outside and is supposed to continue until sometime over night. ECJ will be out shoveling at least one more time this evening. (I'm typing this part up at noon on Sunday so we'll see if we stick to the plans laid out. I'll update tomorrow if we did or not.) Tomorrow morning brings book lessons back to the campers full time.

Monday morning dawned to chores and breakfast (we didn't finish season two of Game of Thrones Sunday night but we plan to finish it Wednesday evening). After the girls did morning yoga, something that Monkey started the girls doing daily and I don't have the energy to do in the morning (me time, yay!), we settled in for our lessons. Lessons were done quickly and without argument ... almost as if we hadn't been away from the books for so long. I think it literally took us less than two hours to complete everything in the lesson plans for the day! The rest of the day was spent with cleaning up ... general vacuuming, laundry, dishes, bathrooms cleaned, etc..

On Tuesday Daddy had a doctor appointment in the morning for an EEG, another test to rule out certain things causing the migraines. The appointment did well. Then we ran another errand and came back home. It was in the afternoon by the time we got back to the house and we decided that instead of doing lessons this day, after asking the campers and including their opinions, we'll be doing school this weekend. That afternoon Daddy and I took naps with the grand-campers in the bed with us! It was such a wonderful nap!

Wednesday morning Daddy and I got up really really early because we had an appointment that is two hours away in fair weather with decent traffic. This morning we had a winter storm advisory, the expressway was bumper to bumper, and everything was slick as dog slobber! We passed several vehicles that had gone into the ditch on our way southbound. Daddy called where we were going once they opened (and it was obvious that we were going to miss our appointment time) and told them what the trouble was, they agreed to reschedule. So, on our way home ... taking surface roads this time ... Daddy and I stopped for a very rare, just the two of us, breakfast out. When we got back to the house Daddy had to run an errand in the next town over and I did lessons with the campers after they finished their morning yoga and apparently video games were a must this morning. Again, the book lessons came off without a hitch and we were finished in less than two hours. SweetPea "did school" by coloring a couple of pages while her aunts did math and history and then we sang and signed wheels on the bus with her a few times. After Daddy got home I pulled out my crochet, while the campers pulled out video games again, and Daddy and I watched the last two episodes of season two of Game of Thrones. The evening was capped off by me reading to the girls. We've started a new bedtime book: So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl. We're two nights into the book and so far it is fascinating having just found out that it's actually taking place sometime during the great potato famine in Ireland.

...

So, I started writing this at the beginning of February, then life caught up with me and I stopped writing from my notes. Really all I remember from February is doing book lessons three weeks and being sick for a week solid near the middle of the month. We'd had a strong stomach virus that went throughout the whole house, starting with the grandcampers, then the campers, and finally the adults. It was something fierce! While the grandcampers and campers seemed to feel better within 36 hours, the adults took more like four or five days to recover from it. 

Half the month was cold with the other half being more spring like and all mud. Unfortunately the best week for being outside was the week that we were all ill. Such is life. We only logged sixteen hours of outside time the whole of February (basically) and that's no fun! We're ready for spring to come back to Michigan. The grandcampers and campers are getting cabin fever, I need the natural vitamin D from the sun to get out of my winter funk, and even Daddy is tired of the snow and cold of winter.

I've spent several days this past month researching what we'll be doing in the fall for lessons for 11th, 7th, and 4th grades ... not to mention that SweetPea is going to be doing nursery school this fall. I know that she will only be about two and a half when we start but she loves "doing school" with her aunts and uncle. Right now that consists of coloring and drawing while everyone else does school. She mimics my pacing with books while I read and grabs a book of her own to do the same. I haven't really settled on anything particular for next year, but I know that we'll be using a combination of The Good And The Beautiful and Master Books. I haven't settled on if I want SweetPea to do a formal nursery school curriculum (as Peanut did) or if I'm just going to fly by the seat of my pants working on the very basics with her.

Little Man eating his first bowl of cereal.

This year on Valentine's Day Daddy surprised me with flowers and chocolate. We normally don't celebrate the day but he made it special indeed for me, even bought all of the campers and grandcampers chocolate to celebrate! You may notice that there's only a couple of pictures here in this post ... honestly I didn't grab many this past month. Certain moments got captured but the rest of the time life was just too busy!

Here's to March coming in like a lion but going out like a lamb. Here's to me posting weekly again. Here's to life calming down a bit. Now, I'm off to work on a niece's birthday gift for this year and spend the day relaxing with the campers and grandcampers. I hope that February was a good month for the rest of you.

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Week 18

Ok, so normally I sit down at the end of each day (or at the end of every couple of days) and I type up what we did that day ... this is how I usually make my weekly wrap up posts. This past week I didn't do that. I got wrapped up in every day life and didn't make time time to blog ... by the time evening came along I was ready for my nightly medications and bed. So, I'm just going to sort of recap the entire week as best as I can because I don't really remember what we did each day...

So ... from last Sunday to this Sunday we've entered a whole new month! It's now February! One month closer to the end of winter and I can't wait for spring! I like snow at Christmas and maybe a bit more to sled on but I don't like much more than that and I really don't like the cold. I meant to watch season two of The Game of Thrones, but only got four episodes in last weekend and am going to try to finish the rest of the series this evening (Sunday ... 2/4/18) ... we'll see how it goes. For those of you wondering I've already watched the first four seasons of the series but am getting ready to watch all eight seasons and so am starting over from the beginning so that it's fresh in my mind. I also didn't get as much crochet done this past week as I thought that I would ... was too antsy to sit still long enough to crochet much of the time.

Wearing Grandpa's coat in the
doctor's office because she was
chilly.

SweetPea and Daddy both had appointments this week and so did Monkey. Nothing major for any of them and they were quickly taken care of. Some new medications were prescribed for SweetPea's allergies and eczema that she was diagnosed with this week. After just a few days of using the medications we can see a major difference in her skin and it is awesome!

We didn't get any outside time this week because of the snowy cold weather conditions ... well, ECJ got some time outside shoveling snow for our house and his customers houses. He actually wants it to snow because if it snows he makes money. We're supposed to be getting more snow this evening for a total accumulation of nearly six inches! Winter is, unfortunately, still here.

Book lessons did not get done this week except for Sunday morning where we caught up with some of the lessons that I'd already planned out. I then planned out this week's lessons (which are now next week's lessons). Why didn't we get book learning done? Well, really it had to do with the creeping cruds that most of us were experiencing ... upset stomachs, headaches, mild fevers, body aches, and a general feeling of ickiness. But, the children read every single day. ECJ worked on his online coding classes that he truly enjoys doing and watched more Physics videos on YouTube. YCJ made four different videos this week, edited each of them, and then posted them on her share site. Peanut not only crafted every day but made two videos of her own (with help from her big sister) to share on another site. Chores were done daily, Bible reading was done daily, and we've all (as a family) began doing yoga and some exercise videos each day. Learning is all around us ... but it's back to the books tomorrow (Monday).

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Week 17

Yeah, I know that technically we "should" be further along than seventeen weeks ... but at the beginning of the year when Little Man was born, and before that when Monkey came to stay with us again, I didn't count the weeks that we didn't do actual book lessons. Now, I'm not too worried about that so much and so I'm counting every week. Not every week do we do book lessons, and some weeks we only do a few days worth of book lessons ... other weeks we buckle down and every single day have book lessons. It all rounds out over the course of 365 days. Yup, that's right, (in case you forgot) we're year round homeschoolers. I try to plan for any major time off that we'll need ... but, sometimes there just is no planning to be done as life tends to throw curve balls and cause you to just adjust plans. This week we're doing four days worth of book lessons.

Saturday Daddy and I literally vegged out. We were watching the grand-campers for Monkey (who was out running errands and getting a little me time in) and keeping an eye on the campers as well. The great thing about having older children around with toddlers and babies in the house is that the older children can, and do, help take care of the littles. So, Daddy and I turned on The Game of Thrones season one and marathon watched it throughout the day ... completing the whole season well before bedtime. During the binge watching we had a toddler running in and out of the room every hour or so when she wasn't napping and I crocheted ... working on a blanket. We had chicken pasta for supper.

Sunday Daddy had an appointment first thing in the morning and the rest of us stayed home and relaxed. The rest of the day was spent cleaning the house and then relaxing.

On Monday Noni came out and borrowed several movies from Redbox for us to all watch, she also bought Taco Bell for lunch for everyone. We watched Pondemoniem, Deep, and Leap. Well, the girls watched Leap at bedtime. It was a wonderful and relaxing start to the week. Tuesday Daddy had an appointment in the morning, Monkey wasn't feeling well and so took a nap in the morning, and we did our lessons while watching the littles ... this is the first time we've really done this without help and it was an interesting experience, but very do-able. Lessons went without a problem ... other than ECJ trying to fudge math with a previous lesson, but I caught him and he just winked and then did his math lesson for the day. Algebra isn't his favorite subject.

Wednesday Daddy had an appointment that I went to with him at a new doctor, trying to figure out what is causing his migraines. We have no definitive answers ... just more tests and appointments scheduled. Lessons were done after we got home and were quickly done with no problems. Both Thursday and Friday lessons were done quickly so that everyone could relax for the rest of the day. The house has pretty much stayed clean and that is a blessing.

Now, it is Saturday ... Monkey is with the campers and SweetPea at the park enjoying the unseasonably warm weather while Little Man sleeps in his swing as I type. Daddy and I are planning on watching season two of Game of Thrones beginning today sometime and I'm sure I'll be crocheting during that time. We have nothing major planned for this weekend and are going to enjoy it as tomorrow is supposed to be warm as well.

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Week 15 - 16

Sunday we had intended on going to mass, but instead ended up staying home. Daddy wasn't feeling very well and neither was I (remember the stomach virus that the younger kids had last week?). We lounged for the majority of the day and watched Netflix, watching Sing as a family. While the campers and I have seen it before Daddy never had and so it was enjoyed by all again. I worked on ECJ's crochet tablet cover that he knows that he's getting from me for his birthday. I didn't get a lot done on it because I simply wasn't feeling well.

16 now!

On Monday it was ECJ's 16th birthday!!! We kept everything low key because we (the adults) still weren't feeling well and we'd already arranged with him to celebrate his birthday both on the 9th and the 11th (Tuesday and Thursday) of this week. He, and his sisters, played video games pretty much all day long. He had received two new games for our Playstation 3 at Christmas and he was anxious to play with them. So hour after hour was played of both Minecraft and Black Op's 1 ... great fun was had by all of the campers and grand-campers. Daddy and I rested as much as possible and we just had soup and frozen dinners for supper. I worked a bit on ECJ's gift, but again didn't get very far on it.

SweetPea helping herself to some brownie mix lol

Tuesday was a very busy day. We were supposed to start lessons back on this day, but after looking at our schedule for the week and the amount of things needing to be done on this day alone I called one more week of break and decided that it would be called our Winter Break. The weather is supposed to be warmer this week as well, so I want to make sure that the campers can get outside as much as possible to enjoy the weather. Daddy had an appointment first thing in the morning and I had several phone calls that I needed to make. Daddy then stopped at the grocery store (Aldi's is right next to where his appointment was so it only made sense for him to stop there before coming home) and came home. He and I then went to pick up Monkey from work, taking the long way there and back to enjoy our time together in peace and quiet (not that easy with five children running around the house). Monkey made ECJ brownies for his birthday, Daddy and I spoke with him about his gifts from us this year - a new cell phone and getting the screen on his tablet replaced, along with helping him fix a car this summer if he can pay for half of it. We had pizza rolls for supper because that's what ECJ wanted for his birthday supper. I worked more on his tablet cover on and off all evening and was glad that I was beginning to feel better than I had for the last couple of days.

On Wednesday we had a relaxing day at home the whole day long. Thursday, Noni came out and the campers and I went with her shopping for ECJ's birthday. Daddy stayed home with the grand-campers and Monkey went to an eye exam in the next town. While out with Noni we ate lunch at Denny's, shopped at five stores, and then came back home with mega amounts of bags. Each child was thrilled with what they had gotten (Noni spends money on the birthday camper and gives each sibling $25 worth of spending money while we're out). I was able to pick up a few things I was missing for supper that night and some over the counter supplements and medications ... One of Peanut's medications is no longer covered by her medical insurance because it can be bought over the counter, so I picked up several months worth of it while we were out so that I could be sure that we wouldn't run out.

First ride on the
carousel!

Friday through Sunday we mainly relaxed. We ran some errands each day (just stuff local to town as was needed) and everyone seemed to enjoy the weekend. Daddy and I slept in a bit on Sunday morning and had some quiet cuddle time in lue of dragging the campers and grand-campers out in below freezing temperatures to go to church. Some general cleaning was done ... you know, things like vacuuming, doing laundry, sweeping, taking out the trash. Daddy ran an errand in the next big town from us and was gone a couple of hours. This being our last day of break the campers were keen on getting their chores and tasks asked of them completed so that they could get back to their preferred passtimes ... such as making videos, watching YouTube, and reading. In between tasks I crocheted just a little bit because some how during the course of the morning I pulled a muscle in the top of my back. 

Monday was the only day this week that we didn't have appointments during the day. And, as I sat in bed drinking my first cup of coffee, I contemplated if we really should come back off of break this week or not ... most days we were going to be gone several hours out of the day and we've tried schooling in the evening before and it simply doesn't work for us. So, instead of getting back to our book lessons I gave each camper a goal for the week. ECJ needed to start his learning for coding (second semester plan anyways) and he did so by finding his own site that he preferred over Khan Academy (he really doesn't like Khan and I don't know why) and began studying on his own and researching... even wrote his first bit of code before midnight this night. YCJ was given the goal to make three well edited videos as that's her current passion ... she takes her Beenie Boos and makes videos of them, edits them, and then posts them to a share site. Peanut was simply told that she must work on her crafts (she calls them her DIY's) each day at least once a day, she truly is becoming a talented artist and I become amazed nearly daily by her creations. On top of these general goals they're to either work on their reading or read a certain amount of time each day, the reading material can be of their choice. ECJ's chosen to read about programming and really research it as he feels that it might be a career choice in the future, YCJ chose to read a bit daily about how to edit videos so that she can possibly get even better at it, and Peanut and I are working through Phonics Pathways again doing a bit each day. We had stopped reading Charlotte's Web over the holidays and chose to pick it back up this week ... but didn't get to it Monday night. 

On Tuesday morning Daddy, ECJ, and myself woke up early to take ECJ to his yearly physical appointment. ECJ rarely gets ill so he doesn't often see the doctor other than this yearly physical appointment ... this year he chose to ask about getting back on some ADHD medication but had specific requests (such as not wanting to be put back on Ridilin). Our wonderful pediatrician started him on another medication that doesn't have a stimulant in it. This was our main appointment for the day and we were home before ten in the morning. Each camper worked on their projects for the week, helped look after the grand-campers, did their chores, and helped prepare meals. All in all it was a good day.

Wednesday was a rather busy day with Monkey having an eye appointment in the morning (she'll have to see a specialist about her vision) and the grand-campers having check-ups in the afternoon. Both babies are doing well and are right on track for where they're supposed to be. Thursday Monkey had an appointment in the morning with her new primary care doctor and I went with her, everything went very well. Really life just hummed along happily all week long. I rather enjoyed it! That afternoon I made our lesson plans for next week ... making sure to take into account that Noni will be visiting on Monday so we'll be having a four day school week for the book lessons.


So, today is Friday, and I've just gotten back from the last appointment of the week with Monkey. The kitchen is being cleaned by Daddy who went on a cleaning jag this morning, ECJ is in the other room working on his coding right next to Monkey who is working on her new online college class, YCJ is editing a video that she made last night, and Peanut is watching some YouTube videos for inspiration for her DIY's for the day. I'm blogging with SweetPea on my lap while Little Man sleeps behind me in his bouncy chair. Our afternoon plans include cooking a pork roast on the rotisserie cooker for supper, me working on a crochet birthday gift for one of my nieces (I didn't get all the blankets done for Christmas so they're becoming birthday gifts for this year), and in the evening Daddy and I will start a marathon watching of Game of Thrones season 1 again. I also plan on starting back to the reading of Charlotte's Web so that we can finish it by the beginning of next week and the girls can watch it on Netflix.

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Weeks 13 & 14 Christmas

Tablet before it cools.

Christmas Eve and the day before were spent cooking large amounts of food, making a Scottish desert called Tablet, and having the girls make their own butter as part of our Little House unit study. They didn't much like the taste of the homemade butter, but they enjoyed jumping around and shaking the jars until the heavy whipping cream turned into butter before their very eyes! My tablet didn't turn out exactly as my grandmother's used to and so I'll have to play with the recipe a bit until I get it right. It tastes right but it's too runny and more like a caramel instead of a fudge. We were supposed to have guests over for supper on Christmas Eve, but they were ill and so they stayed home. So this year we had two Christmas meals! One on Christmas Eve: stuffing, turkey, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and tablet for desert. The other was made on Christmas Day by Grandma: ham, lasagna, mashed potatoes, cheesy potatoes, rolls, veggies, and more! Not to mention the pies and cookies for desert!

Butter, and buttermilk, in the
bottom of a jar!

Christmas Day we all woke up early and found that Santa had arrived to give gifts that were waiting for us under the tree! The campers and grand-campers had a blast opening their gifts. Then we all got dressed for church and drove two vehicles (eight people do not fit into any of our current vehicles) down to Grandma and Papa's area to go to church with Grandma and hear Papa sing. We then spent the rest of the day helping get supper ready and visiting with each other. It was a wonderful day and we spent a lot of quality time with family that we don't see as often as we wish. One of the Aunt's was there along with her husband and her children (the cousins) so it was a full house of sixteen people, most of whom were children ages 17 and younger. Lots of love and happiness abounded.

The rest of Christmas week literally went by in a blur. Not much time was spent outside due to freezing cold temperatures and even more cold wind chill factors. Many electronics (including a few new ones) were used during the week. Toys were played with. Baby toy explosions happened to where you can certainly tell when walking into the house that there are babies in the home. So, in short we had a lot of fun!

Sunday, New Year's Eve, we had a quiet supper at home and then let the older kids stay up to watch the ball drop on TV from New York. SweetPea woke up shortly before the ball dropped so she got to see it as well and Little Man was already awake. I'm sure that they didn't really understand why everyone was so excited but they sure did smile a lot for sleepy little babes. 

On Monday we had probably the most chill day of them all during our break. Video games were played, naps were taken (by myself and Daddy included), books were read, and a bit of laundry was done. We had roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy along with some green beans for supper. All of the campers and grand-campers went to bed early ... and that had been Daddy's and mine plan as well, but we ended up going to bed closer to midnight.

Tuesday we started the day off with several errands being ran to take care of some things with health insurance and other important things. Both SweetPea and Little Man weren't feeling well, so we called the doctor and got an appointment for that afternoon. Poor Little Man was puking up just about as much formula as he was drinking, both had fevers, and SweetPea was not her sweet little normal self. Both babies had a stomach virus, which is probably what Peanut is suffering from as well without the vomiting ... and Daddy isn't feeling too well either. 

Wednesday through Saturday were literally spent dealing with running errands and taking care of sick babies/children/campers. Being that it's a virus there's really nothing we can do but let it run it's course. Thankfully it didn't seem to spread through the whole household and stopped with the four people affected by earlier in the week. So much laundry was done this week that I think my washer and dryer never stopped even over night. And most suppers were fend for yourself all week long as all of the adults in the house were busy dealing with the campers and grand-campers that didn't feel well.

We start back to our lessons on the 9th (Tuesday) of January. We're having a three or four day week depending on how it goes because we'll be going shopping with Noni on the 11th. ECJ turns 16 on the 8th! (Where has all the time gone?!?!?!) Here's to a great year in 2018!!! 

*I had over two hundred pictures from Christmas Eve until January 6th! I chose just a couple to share in this post because the mayhem of opening gifts I'm sure happened at every house, and there were several pictures of sick babies cuddled up with well people over the course of the week... No outdoor pictures this week because with the wind chill factors we've been well into the negatives most of the week!*

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Joined up for Homeschool Highlights this week!