Catching Up: Four Weeks from October to November

Blocks never fail to entertain.

Monday, October 26th was the day Mason finally got his cast off. Nearly six weeks in a cast was a lot of work, and a lot of working around things. It also posed risks for Mason. While I would like to say the cast came off and he had no unfortunate effects, I can't. As I type this, it is Monday evening, and we are still waiting to see what all will happen. 

So far, his leg has swollen a lot, which was not unexpected. The tricky part of that is we won't know for a few days if that swelling is a normal body response or if it is in response to the leg bones being broken during cast removal. (Remember, Mason has osteoporosis, so that is a very real possibility.) 

He also has one area we are watching to see if it will be a pressure wound. There are a lot of layers of dead skin to slough off in the next few days, helped along by baths. We can't scrub his skin, because it is not sturdy enough to do that. Once the dead skin comes off, we will be able to see if the area underneath is okay or not. An open wound that could heal in a few days or weeks for a neurotypical person, can take months for Mason, because his paralysis means his nerves don't function right. He can't feel anything from pretty much the hips down. That means his body doesn't get all the messages it needs to know when it has healing/repair work to do. 

Tuesday was a normal homeschool day for us. Kids rotated through their subjects - math, language arts, science, and so on. There were a few bad attitudes to navigate, which is never my favorite, but we made it through the work of the day and into the afternoon hours where kids are free to explore their interests. Mason's swelling is present, but less, and the skin is not looking worse today, which is a hopeful sign. 

Favorite Games Currently: Bop It, Villainous: Disney, Castle Panic, Jumanjii

Wednesday's school morning felt peaceful. Each child cheerfully worked through their subjects. I always appreciate days like that. 

Thursday I could officially say it looks like Mason avoided any major pressure sores from his cast. While his skin is definitely worse for the wear, it is doing much better than it could be. It rained all day, but the kids are counting down to a few fun activities in the next bit, so they kept busy today cheerfully. (Coming activities include making buckeyes with Grandma, a fire pit dinner with smores, and a trip to the zoo). After dinner several kids painted peg dolls. 

Friday was the buckeye making with Grandma. It ended up being a bit of a comedy of errors, but chocolate and peanut butter taste good together regardless. We finished up the school week with a solid run of lessons. 

We can pet and feed stingrays at our zoo.

Saturday I did the usual errands, with unusual results. Our van, the only vehicle that fits our family, died while in line at the bank. We decided after a bit that it was most likely the alternator, and dropped it off in the lot at our favorite mechanic's shop, which was already closed. We knew they would call us Monday after they had a chance to look at it. That meant our planned Monday trip to the zoo had to be postponed to a later date.

We spent the evening outside roasting dinner and smores over a fire in the backyard. It was chilly and just the perfect weather for it!

Sunday, November 1st was family time, home church, and preparing for the school week. Restful.

Monday started with our typical homeschool work. Then we got the expected call from the mechanic - with unexpected drama. Sometime between late Saturday when we dropped off the van and early Monday, people snuck onto the mechanic's lot and cut parts off our van to the tune of several thousand dollars in parts. The police were called, and then it was lots of phone time with insurance companies to figure out what to do next. We are still working through that process, but in the end, our van will end up getting the repairs we put it in for, plus a lot of extra work. We are without our van for the week.

Lots of stingrays.

Tuesday and Wednesday were hard days in our not so little homeschool. Lots of grumpy kids, lots of complaining over school work, and lots of frustration. We got through it, and woke up Thursday to what felt like a whole new homeschool. Everyone was cheerful, worked willingly, and had fun together. Friday Tobias turned 5 years old, we had a normal school day, and we got word our van was ready to pick up the next day.

Saturday we picked up the van, picked up groceries, picked up library books, picked up monthly medications, baked a cake, baked monkey bread, made no-bake cookies, and then had our November family birthday party. This time the party was at my sister's house and we had 4 birthdays to celebrate: Tobias, Caleb, my niece Alyssa, and my sister, who all have November birthdays. 

Sunday, November 8th we rested, did home church, and had an online seminary activity with over 200 youth in the central Ohio area over Zoom. We also decided Monday would be the perfect day to make a trip to the zoo.

Mason's favorite animal - the red pandas.

It was a perfect zoo trip day. Warm weather and perfectly clear, sunny skies. We visited several areas of the zoo, fed and pet the stingrays, and saw a lot of animals. The zoo is doing a great job limiting the number of people coming in at a time, so we were able to stay distanced and mask free outside easily. Whenever we popped into a building we put on masks, per their requirements. 

One of the zoo highlights was that as we entered the new Zoo village a couple of keepers came out and asked if we wanted to see the three capybara brothers. They were moving them from their indoor to their outdoor habitat, and that involved walking them right through the public areas. They were the cutest big rodents!

Capybaras

The rest of this week has mysteriously disappeared, I forgot to take notes. 

Sunday, November 15th we had a quiet day with church at home. We played games, read books, and just had a rest day. 

Monday we dove into our last school week before Thanksgiving break. We had the usual lessons, a doctor's appointment, and a Zoom meeting with the college financial aid department for Makayla. 

Tuesday's highlight was baking muffins. We also reached the really exciting parts of our family read aloud, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We've been working through this book for weeks, just listening over lunch or dinner. The kids are fully invested. The older couple have read the book before, so they are excited to watch the middle kids discover it all. The younger kids don't really pay attention, they are too busy eating. That's okay. 

Wednesday was spent on the phone setting up future medical appointments. We have things scheduled into July of 2021 for various people at this point. I finally ordered a wall calendar for 2021 and put all those appointments in. A couple of the boys took the current games up to the attic and traded them in for different games. We've been playing a lot of games this week, including Clue, The Oregon Trail, Telestrations, Sequence, and Hi Ho Cherry O. 

This board game is more than 25 years old,
made by my grandfather. Now my kids get to play it too.

Thursday the kids started getting excited for Thanksgiving break. They decided they wanted to do a couple art projects that week, so we looked through our many files from the Deep Space Sparkle membership we had a few years ago. Between the 9 kids we'll be doing five different project (two per child):

• The Nutcracker - Drawing and coloring a nutcracker soldier.
• Gingerbread House - Draw a house, use glue mixed with white paint to draw the icing, then after it dries, color in the details with chalk pastels.
• Paper Mittens - Cut out large mittens, paint designs on them.
• Navajo Weavings - Sewing yarn through burlap, then using foam to cut shapes and dip in paint for printmaking on the burlap.
• Weaving with Yarn - Making cardboard looms and weaving yarn mats. 

Friday we started with a typical school morning. Right before history Grandma arrived for a surprise visit. We hung out for a bit, then she decided to join us for our history lesson. This lesson was the halfway mark in our history curriculum. 

Saturday Daddy started out with a work meeting. The kids played games. I ordered a new freezer, which will arrive in a couple of weeks. We spent the evening playing Telestrations as a family.