Homeschool Begins

This week we started homeschool. Sunday we spent a good amount of time setting up rules and rewards and talking about how the day would go. The kids will earn screen time based on getting their work done, their attitude while doing it and how much effort they put in it. They can use the screen time that day or save it up for the weekend. Then we also have a punch card that they earn punches on by doing some form of exercise and doing their daily chores. When they get a certain amount of punch cards filled, we are going to buy them another remote for the xbox so they can play games together. I am all about the bribery here. These incentives seemed to help but of course there were still issues, I expected the first week to be rough.  

Monday morning the boys and I started our first day of school off with a run. The girls joined us for our cool off walk. I took a shower and then we had to get our traditional pictures. Except this year I decided as their teacher, I should be part of them too.

After the pictures we dived right in to school and overall it wasn't completely terrible. Oddly enough, Steven had a great attitude for the first day and was my easiest kid and Ben, on the other hand, got super emotional over everything and was my toughest kid. The girls were mostly ok and they were done by 11am (they took a good snack/wiggle break halfway through). The boys finished around noon and also took a snack break and some wiggle breaks. We pretty much followed that same timing the rest of the week so I am hopeful that we can continue to start our days at 8am so we can be done by the afternoon. I know that will be harder when it gets darker and colder outside.

After homeschool I was able to do my usual house cleaning and pick up my groceries. I was happy to see that I could still fit all my usual Monday things in after homeschool. That evening Grams and I went shoe shopping with Lucy because her tennis shoes were getting holes in the toes. Then we stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream. I got a Snicker Doodle Cookie Dough Blizzard which was pretty dang good. 

On our second day of homeschool Ben did a lot better but Steven's excited attitude about homeschool had already faded and he was back to his usual antics. Steven just really struggles with putting effort into his work and listening when being shown his mistakes and how to correct them. He just wants to rush through it all and be done, regardless if he is doing it correctly or well. That caused him to not earn as much screen time as he could have. 

After homeschool that day we had to take Grams to the airport so she could fly back to Arizona. I definitely felt her absence after she left. I miss having someone to watch my silly shows with me, Tyler certainly doesn't, and I miss having someone to talk to during the day and run errands with me. But she will be back next month so at least it's not goodbye for too long.

The rest of our week with homeschooling was pretty much the same sort of issues. Just trying to get the boys to really try- read directions and instructions and put forth their best efforts. Trying to get Ben to keep his emotions in check so that he doesn't get upset (or freeze up) when he doesn't understand something. The girls had similar issues with getting frustrated or upset when something felt like too much work or hard so got to work on them too.

The positives for homeschooling this week were- the less stressed schedule, having the boys come with me on my runs, teaching Ben how to play the piano, doing a read aloud with all the kids during lunchtime, having the boys do coding lessons with their dad, having Steven help me with dinner, snuggling on the bed with the girls to do a reading lesson and having "recess" with friends. On Thursday we did a beach day with a few friends and that was a lot of fun. On Friday I had a lady from the neighborhood over, she has triplet boys Penny's age (they were in Jr Kinder last year in the class next to Penny's). It was nice getting to know her better and fun to watch Steven playing games with her boys and entertaining them.

The only other thing that happened this week was tie dying shirts for our yw's activity Wed night. This was a lot of fun except I had another annoying moment with my counselor. I had told her not to bring a back up snack to the activity that night and that it would be ok if the girl in charge forgot the snack. The girls would survived with no snack, honestly. When I got to the activity she came up to my car and excitedly told me that the girl in charge had remembered to bring a snack which is great. BUT then she tells me that she had brought a back up snack anyways even though I had told her not to. I do not know why she can't just listen and leave the snack thing alone. And then to just admit that she went against my advice when she could have got away with not telling me that she had done that. That was the real kicker. Ugh. I'm so frustrated with her.

Giraffes, Noah's Ark and Fossil Rocks

 Monday my friend spent the day with us because she was getting her floors redone. This friend kind of drives me a bit crazy and she has a baby boy so that I still have a hard time with. I especially struggle with seeing my kids interact with the baby. I wish so much that my kids could have a little baby sibling coming their way in October. Besides that it was alright. She only drove me crazy with her germaphobia and getting upset when my kids let him touch toys that hadn't been washed.

Tuesday my friend was supposed to come over again but she ended up staying at another friend's house and that was ok for me. Instead I ran some errands  That night Tyler and I went out on a date to Chipotle. We got there and found out we could only order online so we went outside and ordered and then came back in to pick it up. Covid rules are so dumb. We ate the food outside and just had a really nice time talking and spending time together without kids. 

Wednesday we went to the Toledo Zoo. The weather in Michigan was crazy rainy that day but thankfully the weather seemed to skip over Ohio. Unfortunately it was wicked humid and hot and we had a pretty rough start. I thought it would be fun to feed the giraffes but that meant waiting for 15 minutes in the sun and apparently that was just too much to ask of the kids. We should've just skipped the feeding and moved on but honestly I wanted to do it. So the kid drove me crazy for 15 long minutes and then when it came time to feed the giraffe- it went so fast! The giraffe slurped up those leaves so quickly but it was neat to see them up close and personal and see how they eat.

After the miserable wait there was more whining about the heat as we walked and their attitude didn't really change until they discovered the aviary was open for the first time since we've been going there. They were so excited to go see some new things that they totally forgot they were cranky. The aviary was pretty cool with the vulture hanging out by the window, the room full of parakeets, and a sloth that we watched slowly go get its food.

Next we saw some monkeys, went to the aquarium, played at the play area and then decided we were all hungry so it was time to leave.

Thursday morning I thought it would be fun to take Ben out kayaking again because we had had such a good time the first time. It was not nearly as fun this time around. He was very sensitive and got upset whenever he had paddling or steering problems and he just didn't handle problems very well. Also when I was loading the kayaks, he got right by a kayak as I was putting it in the car and accidentally got whacked in the face by it. It was not the relaxing morning that I had hoped for. 

The rest of the day pretty much went as well as the morning. The kids were fighting, whining, and making me crazy. I attempted to go over what we would be doing for homeschool and they were super uncooperative about it. Lucy complained that she didn't want to sit and listen and Ben started crying because he didn't understand what one of his tasks will be. 

Later that day the girls and I went to get haircuts from my friend and I remembered her being expensive but didn't properly remember just how expensive. The girls just got trims and I cut off 5 inches and she did a good job but it was just more money than I had planned on spending ($80 total). Afterwards we picked up snacks for our road trip the next day and the girls fought over bagging the groceries, screamed at each other and then Penny started crying loudly. Seriously it was such a miserable day that I would rather not repeat. It has given me some serious doubts about homeschooling and I am real weary for the year ahead.

But in the midst of the miserableness I did get a picture of my haircut with these crazy kids of mine.

Friday we took Grams to Kentucky to see the Ark Encounter. I had mentioned one of my yw had gone there and that we should go, sort of joking because I didn't think she'd be interested...but she was. So Tyler took off work Friday and we made an adventure of it.

After the crummy day before I did not feel my kids deserved devices for the drive so they got none for the 5 hour drive there. Instead we listened to some weird kid zombie story and my road trip mix on Spotify. It was actually a relatively smooth drive...except when I squirted ketchup all over myself when we were eating Chick-Fil-A at a park. That was unfortunate. I ended up changing into the shirt I had planned to wear the next day and wearing my jammie shirt the next day instead. The one time I didn't over pack and this happens.

At the Ark Encounter you take a bus from the entrance down to the ark and other attractions. We decided to go see inside the ark first because that was the whole reason we were there. It was really neat to see and read their ideas on how the ark could've been built, how many animals it could have housed, how 8 people took care of so many animals, etc. An interesting note is that they believe that dinosaurs were on the ark too...I mean, maybe? Overall I really enjoyed exploring inside it and reading all the things. The kids enjoyed it the first floor and probably the second too but by the third their focus was fading and they started getting rowdy, and bugging each other. We didn't read nearly as many signs/plaques on that last floor before heading out of the ark.

The cages

Food source for reptiles

Kitchen

After exploring the ark we went to the zoo. There weren't a ton of animals and we could see a storm blowing in so we didn't stay too long. The kids did like petting the goats and Penny was very excited by the horses and cow.

With our tickets we had gotten vouchers for a free meal so seeing the rain coming, we decided it would be a good time to go inside and eat. It was buffet style and tasted pretty good. When the rain died down we headed towards the bus but then the rain started coming down again. We were pretty soaked by the time we got to the bus. Thankfully the rain stopped by the time we got to the parking lot so we were able to walk to our car without getting further drenched. 

As we drove to the hotel we saw a rainbow. Can you spot it? I thought it was such an appropriate way to end our day at the ark.

Saturday we left the hotel and made a stop on the Donut Trail in Ohio. Yes there is a thing called a Donut Trail. There are 13 doughnut shops that make up this trail but we just hit the one that was the least out of our way. They are not the best doughnuts I have had but they were pretty good. Lucy and Ben got ones with Lucky Charms and I had one with Crushed Oreos. Tyler got one with bacon on top and Grams got an Apple Fritter. Penny got Vanilla Sprinkles and Steven got glazed. Tyler and I have decided that sometime we need to leave to kids behind and hit up all the shops on the Donut Trail so we can figure out which one has the best doughnuts. Plus if you have each shop put a stamp in your "passport" you get a t-shirt.

After our doughnuts we made another stop at Caesar Creek State Park. They have a spillway that contains TONS of fossil rocks. They allow you to take as many as you want, as long as they fit in the palm of your hand. We all had a lot of fun exploring and checking out all the different fossil rocks and picking some to keep. It was also overcast so the weather was perfect for doing rock hunting. I would definitely recommend this place for a free and fun family adventure.

When we finished rock hunting, it was time to head home. We passed the drive with a book called Guinea Dog and more music. I was mean and didn't let them have devices again. The drive home seemed long- I feel like we had to make more bathroom stops- but we survived. Shortly after we got home, we went to a BBQ at my friend Melissa's house. I was not feeling super social so we didn't stay long but it was super nice to not have to worry about dinner. 

Penny's Birthday, Sunflower Pics

Monday I took the girls to swim at a friend Tracey's house. It was really nice to catch up with my friend and the girls had fun. Lucy loved their water slide and Penny loved playing with my friend's older son. Penny really has a thing for older boys. Penny did not want to go down the slide but withe some coaxing from my friend's son, she finally did. She did not love it because she forgot to plug her nose and got water up it.

Steven, Ben and Grams flew in Tuesday evening.I would like to say that I was super happy to have the boys back but there was pretty much immediate grumbling and fighting from them both. Those boys of mine are exhausting.

Wednesday we had a park play date with the Mays and that evening was my youth activity. For our youth activity we went on a hike at the West Bloomfield Nature Park. This place actually had some hills and it was kind of exhausting. We got a little lost too so we added some length to our trek but I like hanging out with the younger girls. They are all pretty goofy and make me laugh with their antics- like their insistence of reading every bench dedication and naming of trees.

Thursday was Penny's birthday. We started out with the typical Lucky Charms and opening gifts. Grams and Poppy Brady gave her a helmet and Marshall from Paw Patrol. Grams and Poppy Hatch gave her a Barbie and Zuma from Paw Patril. We got her a watch and Polly Pocket. Ben spent $20 of his own money and got her a Barbie with puppies. That was really kind of him. 

One of Penny's many requests for her birthday was a smoothie so I got her one. I was surprised that she mostly drank that giant thing all by herself- I only had a few sips.

After getting the smoothie the kids helped me to decorate cupcakes for Penny's birthday party at the beach. There was a lot of washing of their hands because they kept licking their fingers after they "glued" on the Teddy Grahams and other candy onto the cupcake. 

When we finished the cupcakes, I got to work on Penny's Pinterest inspired cake. It wasn't too terribly difficult and I am quite proud of the outcome.

We spent the afternoon at the beach with the May's, Bloomfield's, Farquharson's and Schneider's. She got so spoiled. Peter got her a unicorn stuffie, Jessie gave her $20 of his own money (I could not believe that! That was super generous for a 6 year old), Beck and Eva got her candy and a balloon and Wynn got her a Target giftcard and lollipops. We have such a good crew and, besides Steven's persistent complaints of boredom, it was a good beach bash.

Dinner was complicated, Penny originally requested someplace with a good milkshake so we thought Sonic. But after all the sweets I asked her if she still wanted Sonic for a milkshake or if she wanted somewhere else. She decided she would like Chili's instead so we went, even though they were butts last time and wouldn't let us all sit together. When we got there they told us it would be at least a 45 minute wait and likely our two tables would not be together. With this terrible news we decided to go back to our first choice of Sonic. Unfortunately that was all the way back by our house so we had taken a 30 minute detour for nothing. Double unfortunately, Steven was suddenly super emotional about Sonic because he was super wanting Chili's and everything at Sonic sounded gross to him. It was a lot of unnecessary drama from him but in the end, at least Penny was real happy about getting a strawberry milkshake.

After our complicated dinner we sang "happy birthday" to Miss Penny and chowed down on her beach cake.

Friday we had Jenna and Evan over for the day. They are such well behaved kids. They play so well with my kids and are always so polite, grateful, and kind. It led to a really good day. We spent the afternoon at the beach where they discovered what they believed to be clay and decided they were going to make pottery to sale. It was most definitely just sand but the kids all had fun pretending.

For dinner Grams took us to Olive Garden. They allowed us to sit together there and only made us wait for 15 minutes so I am definitely happier with them than Chili's. We all filled up on Fettuccine Alfredo. At one point we were joking with Steven about kissing girls and he suddenly started talking about Terraria. When Tyler asked what that had to do with kissing girls he replied, "I just wanted to change the subject." Smart kid, lol. Then when we were in the car I complained about Penny bringing home the restaurant menu saying I wasn't happy about having more garbage in my house. Her reply was, "I need more garbage!" 

Saturday we went to a pool party at my friend Moly's house. She and her friend Brooke are the cooler ladies in my ward and I even though they are super nice, I always feel a bit out of place. The kids had a blast though. As much as they love the beach, I think a pool was a nice change for them. 

That night we all met the May family at Schell Family Farm to take pictures in a sunflower field. She has a fancy camera that she wanted to try out on my family and hers. Tyler was super grumpy about it so the car ride there was less than great. The pictures would have been perfect if it hadn't been for Lucy and Ben having bright red sunburns around their eyes from swimming all afternoon. But I still think they turned out pretty good. Afterwards we all at some yummy doughnuts and had apple cider slushies. It turned into a really nice evening.