Peek At Our Week

We did our best to get back to normal this week.  I prepared myself for attitude issues and was pleasantly surprised when very few came.

Here’s some of what we did:







We worked diligently all week with Olivia, introducing lots of vocabulary.  She actually enjoyed going through several sets of our flashcards.  None of the other kids liked flashcards. Both boys were exceptionally early and clear speakers, and Elaina wasn't too far behind them.  I think the key with Olivia is realizing how much we caved into her screaming, rather than asking her to express herself with words.  Hopefully she'll be back on track soon!









Olivia took these “pit-chos” of me.  She’s still not diggin the camera these days.



Elaina did a bunch of review this week.  She’s seemed to forget a bit from our prolonged Christmas break.  I got a bit nervous when she wasn’t able to recognize some of her numbers and had forgotten a few letter sounds.  After a day or so, she was back though.






She did “_AT”  words this week, and was proud of herself for being able to read the new words.  She is so hard on herself, and needs constant reassurance and encouragement.  I won’t mention who she gets that from….


We’ve spent a fair amount of each day, reading and re-reading through her texts.  She is so sweet, and hugs me when we are done, and tells me how much she loves reading with me.

I love it to! 






I gave Elaina a hair cut this week, and cut nearly 7 inches of hair off.  She was having a really hard time managing the length of it.  It still goes halfway down her back, but with the ends trimmed up and even, there seem to be less tangles.



Nate had a fantastic week.

Which, if you know Nate, is a big deal.


He worked hard to get his work done quickly each day, handled conflict with his siblings with an even temper, and was over-all happy and pleasant most of the time.  We are getting into new territory in math now, and I’m so proud of how hard he is working to understand the new concepts.





We had some freezing weather this week and Nate was the official “Fire Keeper” filling and refilling the wood basket as needed. He was doing great, carefully adding wood logs to the fire, and keeping watch between lessons.   That is, until  I looked over to see him flinging around a burning piece of paper….

He was dismissed from fire duty after that.







He played a few games of chess with Saul, and  spent some time playing Solitaire too.  I think he is getting bored since he has run out of reading material.  Time to go to the library again….





Isaac had an unusually hard week.  He was extra emotional and had a hard time focusing on his school work and his chores. There was a lot of regression from our break, and we did a bunch of review to get him up to speed.  I decided not to do our afternoon lessons because of it.  Poor guy…next week will be better.






After putting it off for nearly a week, I finally made it to the grocery store.  Since we were down to practically nothing, I baked a lot to stretch our meals. 






I made a yummy Chicken Scallopini, Chili Colorado, and our favorite Homemade Pizza.  Elaina and I made Choux pastry for Lemon Cream Cheese Puffs, and Chocolate Chip Scones again.







I’m finally feeling back to myself.

Whew.

That was rough.

I’m finally able to eat normally again.  I’m not sure if I’d worked myself into having an ulcer or what, but that was miserable.  My leg pain has eased up enough that I’ve been able to exercise, and Olivia’s been sleeping through the night.  I’m sure all of that combined with some serious down-time, has helped my mood and energy levels.  Next week I start up with a new Women’s Bible study at church that I am really looking forward to it. 

Saul has the weekend off and we have to tackle the upstairs hall bathroom.  It’s a REAL mess!  He’s already taken out the carpet and pad, but still needs to remove the tack-strip.  I’m hoping to paint the walls, the cabinet, and the trim so that the kids can get back to using their bathroom again and I don’t have to share mine with them.  Selfish, I know, but a mom needs her space. 

Even if it is a tiny lavender-walled washroom. 

It’s mine and I don’t like to share it.