This past Sunday we had virtual Stake Conference and I made the kids dress up because they just don't do it very often anymore. They all acted like I was torturing them so I decided to make it even more torturous and take pictures of them too.
Also on Sunday, Tyler cut Ben's hair. He always likes to try out wacky haircuts before shaving it all off. Ben wanted to keep this crazy mohawk but I nixed it.
Sunday evening we had s'mores using supplies that the Primary had dropped off for us. Tyler built a killer fire and the boys discovered a huge praying mantis in the garden. The kids wanted to keep it as a pet but unfortunately for them (fortunately for me) they had nothing to put it in.
Monday was a rough day. Even though I had really done a good job of getting things done during the weekend (housecleaning and lesson planning) the kids were all still in moods. By the end of the day I felt disheartened and ready to quit homeschooling. There were just so many hard emotions being manifested and I was just not enjoying it.
Tuesday started off a little better. After some work, we went on a walk across the street and this time we went further down the trail and discovered that it led to a graveyard. The kids thought this was awesome and enjoyed seeing and reading the different headstones. We were all enjoying ourselves until the walk back. As we walked back the boys started fighting and pestering the girls and then Lucy didn't listen when crossing a busy road and almost got hit by a car. And then Ben didn't listen when we were crossing a less busy road and almost got hit by a car. This left me so anxious and high strung that the rest of the day was just more crummy.
Tuesday was my friend's daughter's birthday. I know she had said she wasn't having a party for her daughter so the girls and I decided to drop off a present for her. When we got there my friend ended up inviting us in and we got to join in the birthday singing and cake eating. It was a nice way to spend the evening.
Wednesday morning was awful. The boys were headed out camping with Tyler and some friends but before they left, I made them do math and language arts. I didn't want them missing out on 3 days of school work. They were not happy about this and once again, so many negative emotions being manifested. Once they left the day took a total turn for the better. It was so much easier and so much more relaxed to just be teaching the girls. We also had plenty of time for another walk to the graveyard and discovered a pretty creek nearby it. The girls had fun collecting fall leaves and there was no fighting and no running in front of cars.
Later we dropped by Long's for doughnuts because they had just opened up for the season and they have my most favorite doughnuts. And also they are only like 5 minutes from our house which is a blessing and a curse. I got a dozen for the three of us- that's how much I love them.
After that we went to the library and stocked up on more books- I think we have like 70 checked out but no worries, I hear the limit is 99. Then we ended our fun day watching "A Little Princess." The girls and I wanted to watch something super girly and this fit the bill. We watched the real old school version with Shirley Tempe and Penny commented on what a good singer and dancer Shirley was.
Besides suffering from some major allergies, Thursday was another really great day. We did some school work and then we went to the Toledo Zoo. We brought along a Zoo BINGO which involved checking off things like animals that weighed more that 1000 pounds, flightless birds, mammals that were omnivores, etc. The girls got popcorn when they got a BINGO. Afterwards we talked in the car about facts vs opinion and finished up some school when we finally got home.
That evening we made an apple crisp which the girls are apparently not fans of and then they had to tag along with me to visit one of my yw. They were good girls and watched "Beauty and the Beast" on my phone while I visited and I tried not to constantly wipe my itchy, leaky nose. Promise it allergies and not Covid!Friday I think we were all beat (still had a major runny nose) so we just sprinkled learning in amongst all their playing. No fun outings. These last few days have seriously been game changing. It made me realize that homeschooling is actually a blast- when you only have 2 kids who were pretty close in age to manage. And 2 kids that don't fight and give you constant grief. And 2 kids that have totally easy things to teach. Now I have to figure out how to make teaching the boys not so miserable. To add to decisions, my district just voted to resume face to face teaching in November. It will be 5 days a week but only for grades K-5th. If it was 7th, I would send Steven back asap. But it's not. I am tempted to send Ben back but I am on the fence with the girls since we just had an amazing last few days. I've got some time to think about it but it's such a big decisions.
Friday evening the girls requested a girls only pizza party so we had Lucy's friend Jenna over and Caroline and Lizzy. I enjoyed hanging and working on a puzzle with my friend and the girls had a blast with Jenna.
Today, Saturday, I spent the morning cleaning and then watched General Conference. The boys should be home from camping any minute and it will be fun to hear all their camping adventures. I don't know how they could enjoy camping in 30 degree rainy weather but from talking to Tyler on the phone, it sounds like overall they did.
Also this week my poor mom was in the hospital with heart problems. She ended up getting a pacemaker and defibrillator implant on Thursday. This was all pretty scary and crazy and I hate that I am so far away and can't be there with her. I thought about flying down but would hate to pick up germs on the way there and share them with her when she's got these crazy heart issues going on. So alas I have to try and just support her from afar. It really stinks.
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