Notes for June 27th - July 13th

Tobias and Rebekah love

playing with the math

blocks.

Saturday's plan was simply to be home. Jason was recovering from surgery and split his time between doing school from the bed upstairs to sitting on the couch with his leg elevated to visit with the kids. We had easy meals. Breakfast was toast or oatmeal. Lunch was quesadillas, rice, watermelon, and grapes. Dinner was shredded pork sandwiches, which meant the meat roasted in the crock pot all day. I added in some potato wedges and leftover fruit. 

Sunday began with our home church time. We sing hymns, pray, partake of the sacrament, and then do some sort of lesson. This week was a "Who Am I?" game. Each person had a card with descriptions of a person from the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon. They read it aloud and we all tried to guess who they were. Most of the people were from chapters we have already studied in our family scripture study. A few were from upcoming chapters. 

In the afternoon we baked cinnamon rolls, played a round of Hedbanz, and just relaxed together. 

Monday kicked off a 90F week. Makayla worked on the farm. I picked up a prescription at the pharmacy, grabbed some meat that was on clearance, and restocked fruits and veggies for the week. Jason spent 6 hours on his surgery check up. There was an hour drive each way, a 20 minute ultrasound, and then hours and hours of waiting for the doctor, who he saw for less than 5 minutes. He has to go back next week to get another ultrasound and have stitches removed. Then a check up in 2 months. At that check up he's able to schedule the next surgery, for his other leg. 

After lunch Joseph, Daniel, Oliver, and Caleb spent a couple hours playing Monopoly Cheater's Edition. It takes forever to play a good game of Monopoly, and the Cheater's Edition gets pretty hilarious. Some of my kids are great at it, while others always get caught on their cheats. The best part was when I stopped by the table to see how the game was going. I grabbed all the $500 bills from the bank during Caleb's turn. When the turn moved to Daniel, I announced my cheat - and that they hadn't caught me. I was now the richest player in the game. Even though I wasn't playing. In the end, I returned the bank money and they continued their game. 

Dinner tonight was fried chicken and roasted corn on the cob. It was delicious! In the evening I started preparing our yearly homeschool notification paperwork. 

 Tuesday I took a couple quick pictures while the kids did their summer learning routine. Each week the kids read daily, write once, and do math practice. Their reading varies widely - from picture books to nonfiction to chapter books. Some have specific plans, like reading the Narnia series, while others decide what their next book will be when they finish the current read. We also have a family read aloud going. Through the first three months of quarantine that was a series by James Conti: Framed!, Vanished!, Trapped!. Now we are reading aloud Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I haven't decided what our next read aloud will be. 

Dinner was BBQ pork ribs in the instant pot, with apples and baked potatoes on the side. The pork ribs are an unusual meat for us. These happened to be country style (boneless) and on clearance for $2.40/lb. They were delicious, and we have enough left over to toss on salads or in quesadillas later this week. 

 Wednesday I spent time researching places and resources for funding and building a wheelchair ramp on the house. It's a lot of phone calls, emails, and waiting around to hear from places. It's complicated. 

Thursday I also had some phone time because it is yet again time to schedule 11 dental cleanings. It is always an event to figure out how many people they will see at once, and fit it all in with our schedule. The day was pretty typical for quarantine life, quiet and at home. 

Friday is here. We had one ramp evaluation today. It's not cheap (over $8,000) but it also isn't a wood ramp. This company focuses on modular metal ramps. Now we need bids from two more companies. 

I don't have notes for the weekend, but it was pretty much family time at home, playing in the hot back yard while daddy power washed the house, and home church. 

Monday Daddy had a checkup at the surgeon's office. Healing is going well so far. We took the 9 younger kids swimming at the YMCA outdoor pool. They have a limit on how many people can be there at each two hour swim session, so it wasn't super full. That helps a lot, because we have a lot of non-swimmers, and need to keep an eye on them, physically help Mason, and try to teach kids to float and swim. I'm tired! Kids are tired! It was great!

Tuesday we woke to thunderstorms and heavy rain. It was a stay inside and play kind of day, with thunderstorms on and off all day. Pokémon battles were the main game of choice. 

Wednesday through Friday were spent planning, preparing, and getting things organized for the coming homeschool year. We will be starting back to school the first week of August. We also did a lot of playing games, reading, and family time on these days. A few kids made projects with Lego. The younger kids spent a lot of time pretending with Little People sets we've had for a decade or more. 

Saturday was Samuel's 7th birthday. He woke up happy to open his presents and enjoy them. We also spent part of the morning on a new family adventure.

 We bought a Raddish Kids subscription, a cooking subscription for kids. 

This first box's theme was Ticket to Tokyo. 

We divided the kids into groups and each group prepared and cooked one of the three recipes. 

We made Yakisoba noodles (delicious - the favorite recipe from this box), Teriyaki chicken skewers (also yum!), and sushi (an adventure for sure). 

After an hour and a half of prep and cooking we sat down together as a family with chopsticks and our new foods. 

It was so much fun, but a lot of work and dishes. 

I think next month we will spread out preparing recipes over a few days or weeks.

 In the evening we went swimming at the YMCA outdoor pool again. 

We ended up making double of each recipe, if you were wondering. 

Sunday morning began with church at home. Then Emma and I baked 96 chocolate cupcakes for Samuel's birthday party. Emma, Daniel, and Oliver piped on the frosting, then Samuel added the sprinkles. We had the party that evening and you could see Samuel's joy that it was finally his birthday. My kids are now 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, and 19 - until October, when we start the chain of 8 kid's birthdays in 5 months. 

Monday we made plans to visit my sister's family. The husbands were replacing brakes on our car, then pizza night together.