Peek at our Week {April 26}

We had a pretty nice week.


The weather was really nice and we are all loving being outside more.













The kids are learning about Dogs in Zoo 3 and moved on to Jacob in our Bible Study.








As much fun as they are having with their lessons, the highlight of the week for the kids was finding a snake in the yard.

I am really grossed out by snakes and don't really know how to identify too many of them, so since we didn't know what kind it was, I made them all come inside.  This picture is me, hiding from the snake INSIDE the house, while all of my brave kids watched it slither by.

(Beware: Snake picture below)
























Saul spent some time working with Elaina and teaching her how to ride her bike.  I think she was ultimately motivated by watching her little sister peddle like a maniac.

Nothing wrong with some healthy competition...













I had to wash Olivia's blankie three times!  It was so disgusting...

















Haley and I found this book at Target this week.  I cracked up laughing because it seemed that after I read it, I discovered that indeed, my cat IS plotting to kill me....  ;)





We had game night with my Aunt and cousin.  It was so much fun and a very needed break.



I also went to ARC and loaded the girls up with new spring dresses.  I love half-off day - nothing like buying a nice dress for $1.50!







I cooked a bunch this week, but didn't take a lot of pictures.  We had Sandwich Wraps, Chili, Ravioli, and Breakfast for Dinner.  I made another batch of Chocolate Chip Scones too.







I've got some birthday shopping to do this weekend for Isaac.  I can't believe he is going to be 9!  Where does the time go.....

Peek at our Week {April 19}

Personally, I think there is just no better way to start off your week than a huge stack of laundry.

Especially if it’s a huge stack of dress-up clothes.



For some reason the girls keep insisting that these dresses need a weekly washing.  I, for one, can find many other things to occupy my time, so after washing them, I sorted out the old worn out and ripped ones and packed the rest away for a while. Why do they need so many dresses anyway? 

We’ll see how long it lasts…



The kids have moved onto their third lesson in our Old Testament studies, Noah and the Ark.  This was a fun lesson with lots of extra activities.  They all have done great with the assignments and memory work.



They all cracked up at this question:  True or False – Noah sent out a dove to find pizza.  Realistically, after all that time on the ark, a pizza would have probably hit the spot!





Isaac had a pretty good week.  It must be because his birthday is almost here .  Or it could be that he satisfied his curiosity over the weekend by filling his Aunt and Uncle’s sink with shaving cream. 



I need to get working on his birthday presents.  I can’t believe my guy is going to be 9!  Wow does it go fast!



Poor Nate.


Yea. You can see him in the background.  One of these days he’s going to get tired of standing in the corner, doing boring copy work, losing out on technology, and then finally decide it’s not worth it to back-talk all the time.  Until then we spend a fair amount of our mornings like this:  Back talk, time out, apologize, promise to be sweet, try some work, back talk, repeat.  You get the idea.



Sometimes all it takes is a nice chat on the phone with daddy.




We’ve  moved on to Carnivorous Mammals this week and all the kids filled out their Notebooks.  We are all loving this unit!  It’s a fun way to study together.





Nate’s been busy doing a lot of reading lately. Even at night after we tuck him in.  That explained why he was having so many hard days.  Tired Nate has a hard time focusing.  I can totally relate!



I had to include this picture of naked Nate.  He spent the morning in his underwear because he chose not to do his laundry for two weeks and ran out of clean clothes.  The pajamas he had on were so stinky I wouldn’t let him wear them anymore.  Natural consequences.  Of course, it just so happened it was a very cold and snowy day.  Brrrrr….








Elaina had a lot of fun with school this week. 

She definitely works better when I give her a bit more space.  Just another reminder that each kid learns so differently. When the boys were this age, I had to sit right with them and encourage them to stay focused and on task until the work was through.  When I do that with her, she thinks I am smothering her…











She faithfully practiced her memory verse each day and ended up reciting it seven times on Friday! 













This little stinker kept me on my toes this week.

If you don’t know why a little girl would ever need peanut butter on her hair, you must be smarter than me.  I’m counting it as another M.L.E (Major Learning Experience)…








Aside from getting gum in her hair, she had a busy week throwing some of the longest lasting temper tantrums I have ever had to endure.  She was especially tired, no doubt from her sister waking her up by 6:30 every day.






When she wasn’t screaming or throwing books at me, she was busy tracking the ant colony that has settled within the walls of our house.  She is completely fascinated with the bugs that have moved from sending out the occasional scout, to a full blown invasion this week.  All day long I’d hear, “Uh-Oh.  More ants.  Dis is no good.  I’m gonna tell daddy.”  And then she would run them over with her trike.

gross…we can add that to our “to-do” list this weekend.



My sister-in-law shared eight BEAUTIFUL dresses for Olivia.  Wow!  They are finally all washed and now I am contemplating whether or not to give them to her for dress up or keep them for special occasions.  They are just so pretty and Olivia will have a blast dressing up in them.  I just don’t want to have to wash them every week….



Ducky had a vet appointment for shots and a check-up.  It was near impossible to squeeze him into the kennel, and after he was weighed I could understand why.  He is over 13 pounds!  The vet warned me that after he is neutered he could gain weight easily.  I can’t even imagine him getting bigger than he is now…






Needless to say, Duck was none too happy to be there and even tried to “hide” from the doctor behind a canister of cotton balls.  I guess he doesn’t know how big he is. We can see you kitty…



The boys and I are nearly done with our Proverbs study.


We’ve gone through Proverbs 28 and should be done next week.  I’m trying to figure out what we’ll do next.  Maybe go through a shorter letter?  Any suggestions?



Our eats were pretty simple this week again.  The kids are actually getting tired of cereal.  Probably because I only bought Cheerios and Raisin Bran.  Elaina helped me make Biscuits and Gravy one morning and we had pancakes once for Olivia who, faithfully requested them each morning.









I made a big pot of Chicken Fried Rice and Mukimame, pizza from SAMS, rice and milk, and I can’t remember cooking anything else.  There were a few nights I hurt too much to do anything other than lay in bed under the heating pad.



My biggest adventure this week was making Corn Tortillas.

Or, I should clarify, I tried to make Corn Tortillas.  My sister-in-law assured me they were easy to make, and after listening to her directions, I felt confident I could do it.



I mixed the masa, rolled it into small balls, put them into the press, and cooked them on the hot griddle.

If you’re impressed, don’t be.

It was messy, sticky, hot, and waaay harder than I thought it was going to be.  In the end, I stood by the stove for two hours and burnt more tortillas than I care to admit.  I think this may be one of those recipes I don’t try out again…



This is how I ended nearly every day this week.  A nice tall glass of Blackberry Merlot.  Yea it was one of those weeks.  I’m ready to be done with this pain…

Saul is off again this weekend and we have a game night scheduled with my Aunt and cousins.  I’m hoping to get a bit of Spring cleaning done too.