That Week That Had Thanksgiving (and no school)

We were off school this week, people.  Halle-freakin-lujah.  This mama needed a break.  Kids probably did too.


We did a lot of hanging out this week.  On Tuesday, the kids got into an epic candy trading session.  Below is just Cade's stash of Halloween candy.  

I'm thinking that the Candy Fairy might need to come steal some of his stash, little by little.  Unfortunately, Cade knows exactly what is in his inventory; any missing candy would be noticed immediately.  I see big dental bills in our future.

Thursday, there was much food.  Good thing for elastic waistband pants.

Friday we did our annual hunting of the Christmas tree out at Wintergreen Tree Farm.

The place we go to is pretty neat.  They have a big play area for kids that includes a maze made out of pallets, swings, a big pile of hay, a tire swing, a slide, and the like.

I tried for a cute picture of all three kids.  But Claire was sulking.  So this is what I got.

Friday night, Scott and I got to go to the Dallas Stars game with some friends.  SO. MUCH. FUN.  I love hockey.

Saturday was spent taking a nap (I am recovering from a cough & cold) and decorating the house for Christmas.  The kids wanted to help decorate so badly.  And I have huge creative control issues.  So I tried to be a big girl and let them help.  I really did try.  Alas, I shooed them out of the room so that I could get it done (right).

That week that was the last week of CC {week 13}

Monday  Monday was the last day of this semester for CC.  Can I get an hallelujah!?!
 
Here is Jack playing the tin whistle in class. 

Each week, a portion of class time is given to fine arts.  For the first six weeks of CC this year, we focused different elements of drawing.  The most recent six weeks have been learning basics of music and playing the tin whistle.  Next semester, we will study famous artists and art periods.

And here is Claire starting to chase Cade in the parking lot at CC.  And no, we don't make it a habit of running around parking lots.

 

Tuesday  I felt a little off on Tuesday.  Not quite dizzy, not quite a headache. Just not quite right in the head (no jokes, please.  I KNOW I'm not right in the head).  But we managed to do some school anyway.  Around 5pm our time, Scott left New Delhi, India, to start his trip home.  YEA!

Wednesday  It was hard for me to concentrate on doing school when I knew Scott was in the air on a 14 hour flight from Abu Dahbi, UAE, to Chicago.  I was so excited that he was coming home.  Even though he had only been gone for 12 days, it seemed like a lifetime.  He's definitely my better half.

But we managed to do school anyway.

Thursday  Didn't really want to do school on Thursday.  Scott was home!!!  But he had a lot of emails to catch up on, so we did a modified version of school and worked with Scott, side by side.  We got quite a bit done actually, but were done before lunch.

Friday  Scott was still home, recovering from his loonnnnggg airplane ride home.  But we did school anyway and got quite a bit done by lunch.  So early release day!

General Thought #1  I am relieved that CC is over for the semester.  Not only because Mondays can be so draining and long, but because it's information overload when we are there.  I (and I'm sure the kids too) am finding it SO difficult to keep all of the information we have learned in my head.  And I feel a little bit guiltier each week as I realize this is just more information that I may or (more likely) may not remember.

I'm also relieved that CC is over because it gives us a day off each week.  We can go on a field trip, catch up on work, or just rest and relax on that extra day. 

Or take crazy pictures.

General Thought #2  Having Scott home with us two days this week revealed that the kids' attitudes still aren't where they need to be.  The attitude problems can manifest themselves in very subtle ways.  But it's still rebellion.  And Scott, who is on the "outside" of your school, can easily pick up on it and say something.  Whereas I, who am on the "inside" of our school, tend to sweep it under the rug in the name of getting work done. Which isn't a good thing. I want to be more concerned with my kids' character than them learning how to multiply 2 digit numbers.  I mean, sure.  I want them to know how to multiply.  But their character is FAR more important.

So I will need to be extra vigilant going forward.  I will need to stop what we are doing and address the issue(s) at that moment in time.   Not just rush on, in order to get work accomplished.  And doing this, I'm sure, will be a constant battle within myself.

That Week When Scott was Gone {week 12}

Scott was gone this whole week in India.  He's having a good time.  Well, as good of a time as one can have while visiting and playing with orphans who have been saved from the slums.  I mean, he's not on vacation.  I think the jet lag and long days has been brutal for Scott.  But the team is doing well and doing good work.

Let's go to it, then.  And I may have been a little picture-happy this week.

Monday  CC.  Long Day.  Blah blah blah

This is my girl and me as we were waiting for CC to start.  Notice I'm smiling?  It's because this was taken in the morning.  BEFORE the long day.  I might resemble Linda Blair in The Exorcist by the end of the day.

Tuesday  We got a late start.  Blah blah blah.  Although we also got to FaceTime with Scott in the morning; that was great! 

Tuesday night, Jack's front tooth (finally) got knocked out while he was wrestling with Cade.  Because of some sensory integration issues, losing a tooth for Jack is a traumatic experience.  Once we got beyond the actual "pain" of losing the tooth, Jack was quite proud of his new look.

Wednesday  brrrr.  It was C-C-C-O-L-D Wednesday morning.  So of course we got a late start because WHO WANTS TO GET OUT OF BED WHEN IT'S BELOW FREEZING? Plus I got to text with Scott for quite a while and that takes priority over starting school in my book.

Speaking of Scott, here is a pick of him with brothers in Christ at a church on the edge of the Mumbai slums.

These people are so sweet.  They wanted to know our names so they could be praying for our family by name. And they wanted Scott to bring us all the next time he visits!

Wednesday was actually a great day.  I woke up feeling refreshed (for which I was thankful; Tuesday night was a difficult night emotionally).  And we got quite a bit of work done at school.

Thursday  Thursday got off to a good start.  Claire is working on using dimes and pennies in math, so we set up a pretend grocery store so she could buy a few items with her change. 

Thursday's Throwback Thursday pic is of Cade and Jack in 2007.  They were 4 and 2 years old, respectively, and on their way to Mother's Day Out.  Weren't they cute little guys?

Friday  Oh glory be.  Friday!

I finally looked up some YouTube videos to coordinate with what we're learning through CC in history, science, and art.  Jack became mesmerized by videos on the Mongols and the French Revolution.

General Thoughts  I'm undisciplined.  Seriously undisciplined.  It takes all of my will power to launch myself back upstairs after our lunch break to get started back on school.  I'm not exercising.  I'm not having a consistent time in prayer and God's Word.  I'm not eating nutritiously.  And it all comes down to discipline.  I have no discipline in my life currently.

I used to be a very disciplined person.  In my senior year of college, I got up at 6am and worked out 5 days a week; most of those days, I had to be on campus at a job by 8am.  I always got my studying done.  I ate well. 

So I know I have it in me to be disciplined.  I'm thinking I need to start small.  I need to take some area of my life and apply discipline to it.  Make that a habit and then expand from there.

What do you do when you realize you have no discipline in your life?

The Week After We Went Camping {week 11}

Camping was so great.  Even if it was just for only one night.  Scott preached on Sunday at Woodcreek, so we had to come home Saturday afternoon.  But a little camping is better than no camping.  And the weather was BEAUTIFUL.  I didn't take many pictures (because I was enjoying myself so much).  But my favorite is:

Monday  We skipped CC in the morning because Scott was at home (Mondays are his day off).  He would end up leaving on Friday for India for 12 days. He and four others from our church are doing a mission trip there, putting on a pastor's conference and helping out with some other projects there.  So the kids and I wanted to spend some time with him before he left, and skipping the morning part of CC seemed like the best way to do it.  I'm not gonna lie.  I was excited at the prospect of skipping CC. 

Tuesday  On Tuesday, I wanted to go hide in a hole.  The kids were wild, loud, and crazy.  After threatening them with taking away privileges, things finally simmered down a little.   But I still wanted to go climb in a hole after lunch.  It didn't help that the weather was severely overcast, which I'm sure affected my mood somewhat.  And we (mostly I) found out that skipping CC and teaching your own kids that week's memory work is a LOT harder than it sounds.  Ho hum.

Wednesday  Scott worked from home Wednesday morning; it was fun to have him home with us!  The kids' behavior was  (obviously) better since he was home.  Which made it SO much easier for me to teach them!  Funny how that works.  Wish he could work from home every day. 

Wednesdays are somewhat difficult days because the boys have piano lessons in the early afternoon.  We are rarely all finished with school by the time we have to leave for lessons (around 1:30pm).  Which means we have to come back home and finish up school.  And that is hard to do.  After being out of the house, and possibly running a few errands, coming home to finish up school sucks.  But there are no other open lesson times with their current teacher (whom we like very much).  So we're kind of stuck with our schedule.

On a light note, I checked out Stuart Little by E.B. White for Jack to read this week.  Unfortunately, I checked out the Spanish version of the book.  Kind of hard for Jack to do his reading this week.  Oops.

And this doesn't need any description, does it?

Thursday  Thursday.  Ahhh Thursday.  Yes, Thursday is when everything fell apart.  I became overcome with sadness to the point of (many, many) tears Thursday morning.  Probably has something to do with the fact that Scott would be leaving the next day for two weeks to a far away foreign country.   Just lots of stress probably built up.  So needless to say, we took the day off while I rested and pulled myself together.  My kids are so sweet though.  They each gave me voluntary hugs and pats on the back.  I'm thankful for my compassionate kids.

I also, incidentally, finally learned on Thursday what the fox says.  Don't bother finding out if you don't already know; it's completely inane.

Friday  Friday morning saw us get on task and get to work.  Yea!  We worked hard in the morning.  And about midday, I took Scotty to our friend's house so that they could go to the airport for their flight to India.  (By the way, it's approximately a 24 hour flight... with layovers here and there)  Since the local school district had early release, and I would get tired of answering the door only to tell kids that my kids can't play, we ended school right after lunch.

General Thoughts  I was lamenting to a friend that I feel like, especially when it comes to the Essentials part of our homeschool, we are barely keeping our heads above water.  She was quick to point out that if our heads are above water, then it also means that we're not drowning. Hey!  What a way to look at it!