July 27th - Aug. 7: Last week of summer, First week of Homeschool Year

Monday one of my husband's sisters was able to visit most of the day. She has come in from Utah and around the other things she needs to get accomplished here, she is spending time with us. On this day she brought her longbow for the kids to try some archery in the morning, then came back later in the afternoon and stayed for dinner, along with doing some painting crafts with the kids. 

Tuesday was project day for me. In between the usual mom life I sorted bins of our science, art, craft, homeschool supplies, and games. We are trying to rearrange the dining room shelves where our homeschool materials are kept, to be a bit more user friendly for the school year. 

In the evening I worked on printing and preparing history and science materials for first semester. We will begin our year with the Water and Our World science unit from The Good and the Beautiful for my 7th grade and under group of boys. The whole family will do The Good and the Beautiful History Year 3 together. 

Wednesday we kicked off the morning with a quick breakfast and then headed outside to play before it heated up. I just realized I forgot to record a tender mercy from last week, so I'm remedying that now. You see, we own one bike. It's an adult bike that was given to us several years ago when Joseph needed to learn to ride during scouts. We're not a biking family and simply have never had bikes for our kids. Fast forward several years to now. Only my oldest 3 children can ride a bike. We still do not have small or medium size bikes for younger kids to learn on. And we don't want to spend money on them, either, because our money has other priorities for our large family. This was fine, until Daniel decided he really wanted to learn to ride a bike this year. Then the pandemic hit, and all money has been designated 'let's survive the crazy economy' money. So no bike. Until one random day last week, when a church member who has no children, stopped by our house with a medium sized bike in hand, asking if we wanted it. Another church family's children had outgrown the bike and given it to him, as he was collecting some scrap metal from them. He thought of us, and just like that, the prayer my son had been praying for some time was answered. We had a bike he could fit. In the last few days three boys have learned to ride that bike down the rutted, rocky alley by our house. 

Wednesday the kids also helped me move things to the attic, sort a few shelves of school materials, and  do a bit of baking. 

Thursday was a cloudy day, very gray and dreary, even with little rain. The kids spent the morning enjoying their last visit from Aunt Danielle. In the afternoon I sat down with each child's school books and read the first week's lessons, making notes of any supplies we need for activities or experiments. Kids chose folders for their science and history notebooks and added name labels. Of course, Rebekah and Tobias want their own 'school folders' like the big kids, so we have a stack of 18 folders ready to go. 

We kicked off Friday morning in the kitchen baking a couple of cakes. We don't have another birthday in this house until October, but we decided to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday. It is our final Friday of summer break, and we are on the third book in the Harry Potter series as a read aloud. We've listened to these books all summer. It just seemed like the perfect way to close out our summer.

Saturday was a whirl of small things. I was out the door early to grocery shop, then home for breakfast and unloading. Next was a trip to the UPS store, the library drive thru, and then a long drive to IKEA with Makayla. The evening was family time and final printing and organizing of school things, including the weekly assignment sheets. 

Sunday we had a sweet home church where Caleb helped teach the lesson. He did a great job helping us learn about the Atonement, repentance, and challenged everyone to team up and find scriptures about repentance, then bring them back to share. 

In the afternoon we played games together - Would You Rather Harry Potter and then Harry Potter Uno.

Monday was our first day of homeschool for the year, so of course Mason and I were gone for 3.5 hours at a surgeon's appointment. Before we left at 8am I worked with a few kids who wanted to do some of their school early. While I was gone Daddy made sure kids got reading done. After I returned we did afternoon school. This is one thing I love about homeschooling! My kids can work when they are ready, we can be super flexible with our schedule, and we aren't locked into specific hours of the day for school work. 

The surgeon's appointment went well. We're waiting for a phone call to work with a scheduler because Mason's 24th, 25th, and 26th surgeries are ready to be done. All 3 will happen in one day, just 3 separate sites (right femur, left tibia, and left tendon on his heel). We've been expecting these for a while, so no surprises. 

In the afternoon my husband got 4 steroid shots after a check in with one of his surgeons. (Both elbows and the knee he has not had surgery on.) We are hoping not to have a repeat of 5 months off after surgeries like he had last year when he had shoulder and knee surgery, but are not sure exactly what is going on in these joints.

Tuesday was day two of the homeschool year. It was much slower than usual because I had to orient 7 kids in their new language arts courses from The Good and the Beautiful. I've got kids doing level 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 7. It went smoothly, just slower than things will go once we are all into our new routines. Emma also had an orthodontist appointment, which took an hour out of our morning. By the time all subjects were done by all children it was nearly 4pm (with a solid 1 hour break for the orthodontist in the morning, and a 2.5 hour break for lunch and afternoon medical care). Not all kids were working all of that time, some of it they were waiting around for their turn to work one on one with me, or they were already finished with all individual work and waiting for our afternoon science lesson. 

Wednesday was the first day that felt like a normal school day, with no appointments, and lots of smooth movement from lesson to lesson and student to student. Even though I had 7 students last year, this year of 7 students takes more of me working one on one. Those choices were made on purpose, and will be a positive in our year, but we are still figuring out the best way to have things run smoothly. Here's what I mean:

I need to teach one on one math lessons once a week for Caleb, Oliver, Daniel, Emma, and Joseph. The rest of the week they practice the new skill and review old, only asking for help when needed. They use Math U See curricula. I need to teach five one on one math lessons a week for Mason and Samuel (total of 10 lessons). They use The Good and the Beautiful Math curricula.

I need to teach five one on one language arts lessons a week for Caleb, Mason, and Samuel (15 lessons). The older 4 children need me for small parts of their daily language arts, typically 5-10 minutes each. Everyone is using various levels of The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts.

I do speech therapy with Tobias daily. I read aloud to Tobias and Rebekah, and do some preschool-ish play.

I teach two science lessons to the group of Daniel, Oliver, Caleb, Mason, Samuel. Tobias and Rebekah usually join us, this has a lot of hands on fun they like. This group is using The Good and the Beautiful science units. I review science with Joseph and Emma once a week, or as needed. They are using Exploring the World of Chemistry by John Tiner this semester.

I teach two history lessons a week to the entire group of kids, Joseph, Emma, Daniel, Oliver, Caleb, Mason, Samuel, with Tobias and Rebekah often joining. Then we add in a third day of history for notebooking about what they've learned. We are using The Good and the Beautiful History Year 3 because we've loved Year 1 and 2.  

We have a family read aloud going, currently Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

We have a history read aloud going, currently Slave Boy in Judea. 

I read on my own and then meet with Joseph and Emma to discuss our current Boomerang Book Club title: Emma by Jane Austen. 

Joseph and Emma chose to do a Culinary Arts and Nutrition elective this year. That is being integrated into daily life, lots meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking.

I oversee piano lessons for the kids still doing piano. Even though they play better than I do, I'm able to read music and help figure things out, or just be a listening ear. I also work on my own piano practice when I can squeeze it in. 

We do family scripture study daily. Currently we are 322 pages into The Book of Mormon, in Alma chapter 46. This puts us a bit ahead of where I'll start out at the end of this month teaching daily seminary lessons (Mon-Fri at 6am) with nine teens from church. 

As you can see, it is all totally doable, it just takes a bit of time to get into smooth routines. 

Thursday was another day of learning at home, followed by an afternoon outside. We loved the sunshine and slightly cooler afternoon temps. 

Our first Friday of the school year went great. Lots of reading, discussion, and notebooking. 

Notes for July 18th - July 24th

Saturday morning kicked off with a trip to the mechanic to drop off one vehicle in need of help with the air conditioner. I had a 2 hour training meeting for seminary. The kids played games. In the late afternoon we packed everyone up and headed to the pool to cool off (93F outside today). By the time we came home it was after dinner hour. Kids ate, Rebekah took a way too late nap, and I went grocery shopping. 

Sunday we had home church together as usual. We had a good lesson involving rocks, rice, and a jar, made a mess, and hopefully everyone got something out of it. In the afternoon we baked cinnamon rolls for dinner. 

Monday a couple people had dental cleanings during the morning. In the late afternoon we were able to pick up our car, with a working air conditioner. I worked on some more seminary training modules on CANVAS. We had a lot of family time in the evening. 

Tuesday my husband and my oldest were at work. The other 9 kids and I headed into the back yard right after breakfast for 7 haircuts. I don't enjoy cutting hair, it is itchy, messy, and takes a while to cut that many heads. But it saves money, and my kids don't mind my basic cutting skills. As the morning heated up we went back inside, showered everyone, and got to work on our daily charts. In the early afternoon Emma made magic cookie bars. I made the first trip inside our library since March and brought home a big stack of books, which ensured a peaceful hour for me when I got home, because kids grabbed books and snuggled down to read. 

Wednesday the magic of magnetic tiles was back. Kids were building ships and towers, making patterns on the side of the freezer, and exploring geometry with them. 

Thursday was a stormy day. I spent a chunk of the morning organizing school materials. That included putting science units in binders ready to use, checking page counts on books my teens and I will read and figuring out how many pages per week to read each book in its month, and starting to refresh myself on Geometry, since I haven't taught it since Makayla's high school years.

Friday is here at last! We've had a peaceful day with chores, projects, learning, and family time. I was going to publish this post, but for some reason I can't upload pictures. I'll try to figure that out this weekend.

 

Hmm, it is Monday and I've not been able to upload pictures without an error. As we are about to begin school (1 week!) and there are a lot of other things going on, like a visit from an out of state aunt this week, I'm just going to hit publish with no pictures for this post. Happy Monday everyone!

Notes for July 13th - July 17th

I caught this cute picture of Rebekah on Thursday,
 napping on the couch.
She loves her copy of the Book of Mormon
and spends time 'reading' her scriptures
every day. She also loves coloring them, hence
all the pens.

I left off with Monday, and will pick up there to share a bit about our afternoon and evening. We headed to my sister's house to let the husbands change the brakes on our car while we all visited. Five hours later we had played inside and out (trampoline!), eaten pizza, laughed, talked, and still didn't quite have those brakes done. The usual comedy of errors happened, where everything that could go wrong, probably did. It was just one of those things that happens when working on vehicles. 

Tuesday morning the kids slept in. It's very unusual for all of my kids to sleep past 6:30am, but as I type this note it is 7:45am and the only child who woke up was the one with an alarm who needed out the door at 7am for work. I spent the quiet time reading and sweeping. Kids got up and did their morning tasks. Emma mowed the yard. There was a fair amount of playing with hot wheels cars and blocks, piano practice, and reading books. It was a good day.

Wednesday the kids spent a lot of their energy pestering one another. It was a long day. 

Thursday kids worked with me on a few organizing projects when we realized someone was on our enclosed porch overnight and stole some of my family's shoes. As in, two of my kids now have NO shoes, and one pair of my husband's shoes were left outside on the grass by whoever was on our porch. We moved the shoe racks into the house, and are trying to find places to put the few other things that are currently on the porch. It was frustrating. Now I have to get to the store when my husband is home and guess at what shoes will fit these two kids, because they can't go in a store without shoes. 

I also got to begin learning about something new for me. Last Sunday I was called to be an early morning seminary teacher! For those unfamiliar with the term, high school age youth in our church have the opportunity to attend a scripture study class every weekday morning during the school year, with a teacher and other youth. They read and study the scriptures together. By the end of their high school career the students have read (and studied!) the entire Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants. They have discussed how to apply the gospel to their everyday challenges and life. They have memorized scripture. Laughed together. Learned together. COVID-19 makes for an interesting beginning to our seminary year. We will use Zoom to meet each morning before school for 40 minutes, instead of meeting in my home. From August through December we will study the second half of the Book of Mormon. Beginning in January, we will move to studying the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History. (The four year rotation is Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants/Church History.)

Friday my mom came over for the morning just to play with the kids and visit. We all had a fun time. My mom is one of those grandmas you always want your kids to have - she gets on the floor to build Lego with them, says yes to board games and card games, and even sometimes brings donuts (they were delicious this morning). 

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.

June Summer Reading

Image Source

Reading is something that happens year round at my house. Even in the summer, kids are expected to pick up a book and read for at least 20 minutes a day. Beyond that, you will often find my kids reading to learn about things they are interested in, reading for pleasure, and listening to audio books. Every evening the kids go to bed at 8pm, but have an hour with book lights to read or draw if they wish. They read a lot, and reread favorites regularly. I decided to jot down the books being read during the month of June by the kids. This time I'm including the picture books and library books we read. I know I've missed a bunch of those because the boys take up a basket of books each evening. The list does not include my own personal reading.

Chapter Books (Finished or in progress) 

• The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
• The Hobbit
• The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Two Towers
• The Return of the King
• The Ruins of Gorlan
• Who Was Thomas Alva Edison?
• What Was Ellis Island?
  
• Who Was Leonardo Da Vinci?
• Mercy Watson to the Rescue
• Gregor the Overlander
• Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane
• The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma
• The Sea of Monsters
• The Titan's Curse
• The Battle of the Labyrinth
• The Mouse and the Motorcycle
• Runaway Ralph
• Red Rope of Fate
• Royal Magic
  
• Who's Your Hero? Volume 1-3
• Flat Stanley
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
• The Throne of Fire
  

Books from The Good and the Beautiful Library

• Mr. Apple's Family
• Luke's Adventure
• Lily's Pumpkins
• Ted and Tom and the Tall Tall Peak
• Blake the Brave
• Jack and the Lost Maze
• Jane and the King
• Summer on the North Star
• Number Eleven Poplar Street
  

Other books

• How to Knit a Monster
• The Little Green Girl
• The Bold, Brave Bunny
• Monster Motel
• The Little Island
• Sonya's Chickens
• Hippopotamister
• Policeman Small
• Chicken Chickens
• The Trouble with Time Travel
• Red Panda's Candy Apples
• Dough Knights and Dragons
• Edgar Allen Poe's Pie
• City Chickens
• Bear Came Along
• My Pet Wants a Pet
• Finders Keepers
• The Beginner's Guide to Fashion Design Studio
• Please Don't Eat Me
• Home in the Woods
• Bats at the Library
• The Hundred Year Barn
• Boxitects
• Anna at the Art Museum
• A Computer Called Katherine
• Hawkeye Comics #1-3
• The Friend Magazine
• The New Era Magazine
  
• The Sherlock Holmes Book (by DK Publishing)
• Several Childcraft Volumes
• Story Path
• Zootopia: The Big Case
• I Spy: Picture Riddle Books
• Insectlopedia
• 5 Minute Mickey Mouse Stories
• 5 Minute Star Wars Stories
  
• Lovely Beasts: The Surprising Truth
• Desert Giant
• The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top
• The Magic School Bus In the Rainforest
• What Should Danny Do? 
• What Should Darla Do?
• How Things Work: Inside Out
• New Testament Stories
• Old Testament Stories
• Book of Mormon Stories
• Doctrine and Covenants Stories
• Eyewitness: Vote
• Squeak
• Bunny's Book Club
• Last Stop on Market Street
• The 7th Garfield Treasury
  

June 13th-26th: Zoo, Doctors, Drawing, and Surgery

Saturday started out raining. We had reservations for our zoo's reopening weekend, so we loaded up the van, added ponchos, and had a great visit! The animals were pretty active. We got to see the baby polar bear and baby gorilla, river otters, the orangutan. We even got a sneak peek of the seals and sea lions in the not-yet-opened Adventure Cove. In the afternoon I did meal planning for the week. We are often very repetitive in the meals we eat, the same recipes on repeat. Is it like that at your house? I'll be honest, I cook because if I didn't the natives would turn cannibal. It is not my favorite activity, probably because it takes so much time to prepare, cook, and clean up, compared to how quickly the food is devoured. Remember, I'm feeding 12 people, so the quantities of food I prep are big. This week's lunches and dinners are:

• pancakes and waffles (giant recipe that gives us extra to freeze for breakfasts)
• fried polish sausage, roasted potatoes and beets, and green beans
• grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, salad, fries, strawberries
• homemade pizza rolls (like cinnamon rolls, but savory)
• sandwiches, tater tots, grapes
• chicken taco tuesday and rice
• macaroni and cheese, salad, cucumbers, pears
• homemade cinnamon rolls
• leftovers for lunch (gotta clean out that fridge!)
• Italian chicken, rice, corn
• spaghetti and meatballs, salad
• Scones (flavor undecided)
• Bean with bacon soup and biscuits
• Leftovers for dinner (cleaning out the fridge again)
  

Sunday morning I woke up to make strawberry shortcake for breakfast. I made sweet scones, chopped strawberries, and added whipped cream on top. Our neighbors had a tree company arrive to trim a tree that hangs over their garage from our yard. The kids had fun watching and we ended up having them remove a small tree while they were here trimming. It made for a noisy accompaniment during our home church. 

In the evening we picked back up on our Lego sorting project. We worked for an hour and I kept the sorted bins downstairs so that I can work on the project during the week. 

Monday was exciting because we were able to pick up our library holds for the first time in more than three months. Our library has a drive thru window and cars were lining up before it even opened. We have so many interesting new books to read! I also did our grocery shopping today, because Saturday I opted to skip shopping due to our zoo trip. 

In the afternoon I spent time sorting Legos with a couple kid helpers. We made pizza rolls (think cinnamon rolls, but with garlic butter, cheese, and pepperoni in place of the butter, cinnamon, and sugar) for dinner. In the evening we played in the backyard before shower time. 

Tuesday morning I started preparing the Math Level 1/2 Activity Box from The Good and the Beautiful, cutting, punching out pieces, and sorting into the labeled bags. Today Mason and Samuel did their first 'transition lesson'. We are moving these two boys from Math U See to TGTB Math in the fall. Over the rest of the summer we'll play with the games and do the transition lessons for each level so they are familiar with the programs. The current plan is to put Samuel in level 2 and Mason in level 3. Several of the bigger boys were fascinated with the tangrams in the box, so they joined in for some math play. 

While we were doing that, Tobias and Rebekah spent an hour playing with our math manipulative bin. It holds the math blocks from Math U See, a toy clock, dice, a deck of cards, calculator, solid shapes, etc. 

The kids were busy reading this morning, too. In the last week Emma has read The Fellowship of the Ring and is well into The Two Towers. It is so fun to see her dive into The Lord of the Rings! Joseph is working through the Chronicles of Narnia series. Oliver is 14 chapters into The Ruins of Gorlan, the first book in the Ranger's Apprentice series. Daniel just finished Ella Enchanted today. Mason is on book 17 of the Magic Tree House series, Tonight on the Titanic. Caleb read Jane and the King, one of the Gold Tales from The Good and the Beautiful. Samuel read Ted and Tom and the Tall, Tall Peak, also from TGTB. Tobias had me read Please Don't Eat Me to him. Rebekah went with her current favorite, Oliver's Tree. 

Wednesday was quiet. We watched the season finale of Wayne Brady's Comedy IQ on BYUtv. We played. Kids practiced piano. We read books. Just quiet quarantine summer life around here. 

Thursday I started prepping the house and the packed bags for Friday's day of appointments. Mason has Myelo Clinic every 6 months. He goes to Children's Hospital and sees on average 10 of his specialists in one day. He has updated x-rays and ultrasounds done. He has blood work. It's exhausting and an information overload. Often we come out with a heads up for coming surgery needs. While I spend the day with him, I also have a house full of kids at home. My mom comes to watch them. I prepare easy meal plans, and they enjoy time with grandma. 

The rest of Thursday was family time. Play. Projects. Reading. Listening to another chapter of our current read aloud - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. 

Friday Myelo Clinic went well. Mason's wheelchair needs growth adjustments made, which involve ordering new parts. His lab work and ultrasound results had no surprises, though it did take 3 attempts to get his labs drawn because his veins kept blowing. Emma finished reading the rest of the Lord of the Rings series and started The Hobbit.

Saturday was all family time and I didn't make any notes.

Sunday church at home and baking a lot of baking: scones for strawberry shortcake, cookies, and pizza. We had a family movie night this evening. 

Monday was a normal at home start to the week. Daddy focused on his final project preparations in his current online class. The kids read books, played, practiced math, wrote, drew, and played some more. In the late afternoon Mason and I made the hour drive to the wheelchair vendor to get measurements and parts ordered for his wheelchair growth upgrade. We've also set up an appointment at our house to see about getting a wheelchair ramp installed on the house so Mason can get in and out in his wheelchair. 

Tuesday Daddy was at work. I covered the table in drawing paper and put out freshly sharpened colored pencils in bowls. All the kids drew, doodled, wrote, and created on that paper. Pictures from that are sprinkled throughout this post. Sometimes the best way to get kids to do something is to simply make it available and ready to go. They didn't have to get out paper or track down colored pencils. They could just start. In the afternoon Emma and I baked Lembas Bread from The Lord of the Rings. It was yummy!

Wednesday's nature study moment was brought to us by a bird that flew into the living room window. We observed him for about half an hour, until he flew away. It has been a bird filled spring here. We've had four baby birds in our yard at various times (one blue jay, three robins). Our old outdoor cat just looks at them and lays down. 

Thursday Jason was off work and headed to the hospital to get lab work done and COVID-19 testing before his surgery day. Hours later, he made it home. I headed out to grocery shop. Once home, we prepped food for Friday, cleaned the house, and played Hedbanz as a family. 

Friday morning started at 3:30am when my alarm went off. At 4am my mom arrived to sleep on the couch, in case any kids woke up. I drove my husband to the hospital almost an hour away and dropped him off, then came home. (Thanks COVID). My mom headed back to her house to work from home. The kids eventually woke up and Makayla headed to work at the farm. After breakfast, the kids and I watched Trolls the movie. The surgeon called to report on Jason's surgery (everything went well). Then eventually the nurse called to let me know I could head to the hospital to pick my husband up. My mom came back over to hang out with the kids for a couple hours while I got my husband, we stopped to fill his pain meds, and drove home. Now he's tucked in bed, the kids are playing, and I'm almost done with Mason's afternoon medical care. We plan to have a quiet weekend at home before my husband's surgery check up on Monday. 

June 6th - June 12th Notes

Rebekah grabs a timer and a book

to read most days. Why? Because

that is what she sees all her 

siblings do. Example is so

powerful!

Saturday was grocery shopping day. Our local stores are pretty well stocked at this point. There are random items still out of stock, or low. The stores all have purchasing limits on a variety of items. That makes it very difficult to buy enough food or supplies for a family of 12! A few examples I saw today:

• 1 pack of chicken, pork or beef at one store
• 2 packs of chicken, pork, or beef at two different stores
• Limit 2 on butter, milk
• Limit 1 on toilet paper 

A few other things from our day: the kids played their weekly 30 minutes of video games, my husband took an exam and worked on school work, my brother-in-law helped Jason recharge the A/C in the car, we cleaned the house, grilled burgers and hot dogs for lunch, and went through 2 lbs of strawberries, 2 lbs of grapes, a couple zuccinni, a green pepper, salad, 2 lbs of apples, 2 loaves of bread, a gallon of milk, 1 lb of pasta, a bag of chips, a bag of pretzels, 1/2 a jar of pickles, and part of a gallon of ice cream over the course of the day. 

Sunday we had home church in the morning. I'm really going to miss this when we are able to go back to church! Jason spent a chunk of the afternoon replacing the kitchen faucet. 

Monday morning Mason and I headed out the door at 8am for an hour drive to his eye surgeon's office and pick up his new glasses. They are the exact same style as his last ones, with slight different colors for the paint splatter design. Daddy held down the fort at home. 

Tuesday Grandma spent the morning with kids while Mason and I headed to the hospital for his yearly bone density check. He has osteopenia, which is osteoporosis for kids. Each year we check his bone density and do an IV infusion of medications to help. (In the beginning he did the infusions every 3 months.) After reading the DEXA scan today and comparing it to his prior numbers, we were able to skip the IV infusion this year. We are hoping that an every other year infusion will be enough to maintain his bone density until he is in his teens. 

The rest of Tuesday was pretty typical of our summer days. Family time. Play. Cooking. Cleaning. 

Wednesday was my 20th wedding anniversary. I've officially been married for more than half my life. For those who may be new, my husband and I have a bit of a fun story. We met when I was 18 and he was 21. Three weeks later we were engaged. It felt right, but looking back now as a mother, I can't imagine what I would have said if my daughter told me she was getting married to a guy she had only known for 3 weeks. Marriage is hard work, but it is so rewarding! 

My husband spent our anniversary working, while I held down the home fort. I decided it was also a great day to officially potty train my 10th child, Rebekah. Rebekah has been choosing to use the toilet pretty regularly for the last several months of quarantine. Sometimes her diaper is wet, sometimes it is dry. She is still wet overnight, so she will continue to wear a diaper to bed. But during the day she's now in underwear. We set a timer that rings every 45 minutes to remind us she needs to visit the bathroom. She does still need to learn to poop on the toilet, but she'll get there. End of Day 1 Potty Training Report: Rebekah had 2 pee accidents, and used the toilet the rest of the time.

Thursday we spent a couple hours outside in the morning enjoying cool weather. We moved inside as it warmed up and played games, read books, and just relaxed. Rebekah had one accident when she fell asleep for a nap. 

Friday started with taking Makayla (on her birthday! My oldest is 19!)to work because I needed a vehicle. Not too far into the morning was a dentist visit for Caleb to pull a baby molar that needed out. Rebekah informed me she doesn't want to use the potty today. Considering she's only a young 2, I'm okay with that. She's a really forceful girl, sure of her opinions, and a battle over the toilet isn't worth it right now. 

Right now it is early afternoon and the kids are playing Minecraft together. I've got a special dinner request to put together for the birthday girl, so I'm hitting publish on this post.