Notes for January 25th - 31st

I love seeing my kids reading

together. Rebekah loves this 'puppy book' and

wants it read often. Samuel read it to her 

Tuesday when she asked.

Saturday got its very own post right here, because it was Mason's baptism day! After a lovely service in the morning we had doughnuts for lunch and spent the rest of the day as a family. We cleaned, organized, played games, and watched the movie Inside Out together.

Sunday was our first day back to church in what felt like ages. Illness just wipes out large chunks of winter church attendance with 11 people to take turns getting sick. It was wonderful to be back at church, listening to talks, singing hymns, and learning about Jesus together. Once we got home we had hamburgers from the crock pot for lunch and studied the scriptures together.

I took some of the spooky playdough kit toys 

and put them in this sensory bin with rice. 

The kids loved it.

Monday the kids groaned to see a 5 day school week, until they realized we had been putting 5 days of work into 4 for the last several weeks. Now that work spaces out just a bit and they appreciate it. Math started the day because most of the kids just want to get it over with first. Biology included a great discussion of Rh factor during Joseph and Emma's continued study of genetics and how it impacted my pregnancies. The younger science group finished their read aloud about forest fires/firefighting and illustrated notebook entries about what they learned. Language arts included work on adjectives using picture study, finishing essays, spelling through sentence dictation, reading a variety of books, and sentence diagramming.

We baked cinnamon swirl bread for dinner tonight because it is a little bit faster than cinnamon rolls. Everyone liked it, especially as we still pulled out icing to put on our slices.

Tuesday everyone settled right in to school work. It was an easy morning with no major hiccups. I am so grateful for these days!

In the afternoon during Rebekah's nap I did some research and curriculum planning for fall. Today's research topic was math. We like Math U See and have used it for a decade. I have a few little kids, however, who I think would benefit from a fairly new to the market math program for their first few years of school. It is more of a living math approach. Mason, also, would benefit from some of the program.

Wednesday's smooth school day was wonderful. Everyone enjoyed most of their subjects. Several kids finished current chapter books and picked new ones from the shelves to start reading. History included study of a few more things related to life in colonial times.

Buttering a roll for himself.

This week we got a new table - so let me tell you about what it is for. I found this adjustable height, folding table (aff link) on Amazon. It is 2 feet deep and 4 feet long. It fits in our kitchen along one wall, and can be set at a child height, regular table height, and counter top height. We set it to child height and it works for Mason to use with his wheelchair. He is now able to be the kitchen helper during meal prep. He is thrilled. This table also offers us more 'counter top' space when setting out food for meals. We generally dish up food in the kitchen instead of bringing all food to the dining room table, because a table of 11 or 12 people is already really full just with plates, cups, and silverware.

Thursday I woke after not very many hours of sleep. The day just kept moving along on our routines, which saved my sanity. I spent an hour on the phone with insurance dealing with problems. In the end, things have been moved to a supervisor to look at and hopefully correct. I'm waiting to hear back about that tomorrow.

Friday I woke to find that Rebekah had thrown up at some point overnight in her crib, then went back to sleep. Yuck. I'm not sure why she threw up, and she seems to be doing just fine as of this afternoon. Hopefully it was just a fluke.

I'm going to publish this post and go enjoy the start of our weekend. Happy Friday!