Weekly Wrap-Up {Christmas decorating, doctors, and truffles}

We started off the week by finishing our Christmas decorating. 


It’s tradition to set it all up the weekend after Thanksgiving.  For some reason it felt super stressful to decorate this year.  Maybe it was that all 4 kids were wildly fighting over who was going to help next? 

Nah…..

We had two trees to set up this year, and not enough ornaments to go around. So Elaina and I went to Michaels and bought some white poinsettias and burlap garland to decorate the second tree.  It looks better, but still pretty bare.  I think the kids and I will have to make some new ornaments for it too.  Ooo…sounds like a perfect art lesson!






Elaina’s schoolwork for the week was pretty basic – no theme work or fancy book packs.  We are working on her counting/addition skills with this CD, time telling skills with this game, and spelling/reading with this kit. 










Isaac is plugging away at his work too and we are finally back to our full schedule with history, spelling, and Bible in the afternoons.  He keeps asking to start his cursive handwriting book, but I want his printing penmanship to improve first.  Honestly, he’s probably right on track with other 3rd grade boys, especially lefty’s.  It’s just me being a bit picky I guess.





Nate had his annual asthma check up in Denver, so the kids and I piled into the van for the long trek up.  I’m not a big fan of “car-schooling” but the whole day would have been a wash, so I gave them their assignments, loaded up their backpacks, and we headed out. 


He had a really good check up and got to whittle down his meds to only 4!




We ended up being locked out of the house when we finally got back into town, and wouldn’t you know it, Saul was up in Denver himself on a service call for work.  So we tried to burn some time at the library while we waited for our rescue.  By this time though, all of the kids were really tired and Olivia was basically running in circles trying to stay awake.  I checked out a few books on CD and we sat in the van to wait instead.



Saul brought me a pack of my favorite candy, to make up for locking us out of the house.  Yea…I ate the whole bag and didn’t even share one!  Go ahead and say it. P….I….G….





Olivia and I spent a perfectly lazy day together on Wednesday when the others where at the Homeschool Academy.  I kept trying to get her to do school, but she wouldn’t have it.  So we snuggled and watched Sheep, ate Mac ‘n Cheese, and then napped together. Hows that for a great day?  :)






I was able to convince her to sit with us for school at the end of the week.  She choose to color mostly and used our homemade heart and star crayons.



She had me cracking up when one afternoon she walked into the kitchen, looked down at some spilled cat food, threw her hands up in the air and yelled, “Are you kidding me? Now I have to clean it!”  She did a good job too and refused any help from me. I do it mom.





Nate is still going through a rough season.  He did surprise me with two wonderful days this week!  These little glimpses give Saul and I hope that it is just a season for him.  It is growing and stretching our faith and trust, as most difficult seasons do. 




I’ve been busy trying to organize a fun family month for Christmas.  There are several ideas I’m going to combine and hopefully it makes for great memories and a few new traditions for us to keep.  I guess I better get the finishing touches on it soon – December starts on Saturday!

It was nice not to have any major home-improvement projects during the week, but I’ll probably try to get a bit of painting done over the weekend. Elaina has been bugging me to fix up her room, so maybe I can get that accomplished. It would be nice too to have a weekend that wasn’t so busy, but that’s just not the way we roll.


That's about it around here.


What have you been up to?






Linking up with WUH: Weekly Wrap-Up

Weekly Wrap-Up (Pajama Week?)

Isaac spent a good part of the week in his pajamas.  It could likely have something to do with not having any pants that fit him.  But equally as suspicious is the thought that he could have a week off from laundry duty.



How does that happen, anyway?  One week all of the kids’ clothing fits him fine and the next he’s grunting at the table complaining of how tight the waist of his jeans are.  I told him to be sure to wear his stretchy pants for Thanksgiving dinner.  This boy of mine can really pack away the food….Don’t even tell me it’s just getting started.  We all have had the privilege of watching him go through the buffet line for his birthday, and seven passes through the food line later we all took turns rolling him out of the restaurant.  True story.  (kidding…)



He is awfully sweet to his sisters and I often find him entertaining Olivia, or crafting something with Elaina.  My heart be still….








Elaina and I already did a bunch of Thanksgiving themed work last week, but I thought it would be fun for a little book extension for Cranberry Thanksgiving.  She explored a bit with fresh Cranberries, noting their appearance and taste before starting with the rest.





She guessed if they would float or not and then cleaned them up.  We watched a video about how they grow, and then did a fun experiment on the balance scale.







Of course we made the recipe in the back of the book, but added chocolate and omitted the raisins.










There were lots of messes this week, starting with a big cat food spill and ending with a messy paw-print painted floor.  The cat did not enjoy his bath, or having paint on both his back and his feet.  I should know better than to leave a tray of paint on the floor, but in my defense, Olivia was calling “help me” from the bathroom and I was afraid of what would ensue if I didn’t quickly go to help her out of whatever mess she had found in there. 

Basically it was a lose-lose for me, with a big ol poopy mess in the bathroom and then a black paw printed mess on my floors.  Don’t forget my clothing as the said cat tried to escape the sudsy weapon of torture (aka bathtub).

I’m telling you, if your life is dull, try having a kid or four.  Add a pet in the mix and you’ll never ever be able to complain about living a boring existence.  Promise.



The black paint did come in handy though and I managed to paint our very dull and boring wood door to this beautiful two toned one.  I LOVE how it turned out and am now re-contemplating painting all of our interior doors black.  I guess it’s a new trend…

While I was at it, I painted my cute dresser black too.  It is nearly falling apart, but as it was my grandmothers, I hate the idea of passing it on.  Now I really want a new table, or at least to re-finish the one I have.  Anyone want to come help?




Saul finished taking down the upper cupboard to make room for my wrought iron pot rack.  It was quite a task, one I’m sure I’ll have to find a way to re-pay him for.  In the end, the special tool to take out the stripped screws didn’t end up working.  Instead he had to drill each head off, and pry and pull until it finally came down.  The space is so much more open and functional now, and I know I won’t regret asking him to do it.




This week was mostly about food:  Cooking it, eating it, and my least favorite – cleaning up after it.  We had an incredible Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends, and all of the food was amazing!  As much as I love Thanksgiving, I love the leftovers even more.  I can usually get away without cooking for a few days as we get our fill of turkey sandwiches, potato pancakes, and frog-eye salad to last us until next year.





Nate had zero interest in the crafting and cooking that we all did this week, but he did crack us up with his wacky dance moves.





That’s a peek at our week!  How was yours?