Images from our week

This was our first week of normalcy in a long while with all its normal ups and downs.  Including the normal problem of a late winter cold taking its toll on Mr. 1 and then Mr. 3.  Mr. 1 just spent the week being cranky and needing his nose wiped every few minutes.  Mr. 3 had a shorter and more intense day of illness with a fever but seems back to his normal self today.

And of course we shoveled snow again.  And had to have our windshield replaced after a snow avalanche from the roof (Mr. 8 was fascinated by the process and the man who replaced it was incredibly patient with him).  And then there were a serious of errands around replacing the bolt holding on the windshield wiper (don't ask).  And cantata rehearsal.  Good to get back to normal.

Back to our native environment

The weather last Wednesday was beautiful but then it turned cold.  Once we'd had a taste of the park there was no going back.  We were the last ones there yesterday, even with a high of 40, and there's frisbee today.  Hopefully the temperature will match our mood soon.

Brothers at the library

Nature on our street

We were headed out to breakfast at the diner around the corner.  Mr. 8 turned back to me and asked, "Is that real?"

I looked over and saw a swan in someone's yard.  As I told him that it must be just a statue, it moved.  There was actually a real swan hanging out in the yard.

A walk in the woods

After ice skating lessons we did a little exploring into the nearby woods.  It was wonderful tromping through the snow on a beautiful afternoon and everyone was in high spirits.  Mr. 8 did get a little cranky when he got snow in his boot but he was coaxed back to good cheer with the promise of skittles when we got back to the car.

Mr. 1 took this opportunity to learn a new word - brother.  He would shout it at the brothers up in front and point with a big smile.  Mr. 10 came back to talk to him and Mr. 1 reached for him and off they went.  The brothers together.  Off on adventures.   It was such a special moment to watch Mr. 1 truly become one of the brothers.

Our "feel bad"

We had a rough day today - a day a friend of ours calls a "feel bad".  I should have guessed when I woke to Mr. 1 ready to get up so no hope of a shower.  He joined me for coffee and before I had even taken my first sip Mr. 8 had joined us.

There was never one really terrible moment that sums it all up but just a lot of demands, loud demands, and more demands.  I sent Mr. 8 to do his math in another room because he couldn't stop yelling to me to answer questions that he knew the answer to.  Mr. 10 lost his battle plan for Bull Run and needs me to print a new one out for me right now despite the fact that I am changing Mr. 1.  The boys really wanted tortellini for lunch so I went ahead and made it and then no one would come to lunch despite multiple requests.  So they were sent to their room while I put Mr. 1 down for nap.  Just many small cranky moments across a long day.

There was a long discussion at bedtime about chores and respect and schedules.  I realized that I have continued to try to make the fall schedule work for us despite it not working for the past 3 months.  It just worked so well in September and October.  And then Mr. 1 started really walking (and climbing) in November.  And then December was so crazy.  And Mr. 1 really started his destruction phase in January.  I just kept thinking that if we got past our current insanity we would be back to everything working smoothly again.  And so I held on to my well-laid plans until today.  So now we have a new streamlined schedule.  It will hopefully have the boys doing more on their own - we've had to give up on time together for now.  It just always ended with Mr. 1 screaming, Mr. 3 jumping on top of people, Mr. 8 acting wild and crazy, and Mr. 10 loudly complaining that he was doing everything right and why was I upset.  It's still a work in progress but it's progress and I'm hoping that will count.

A walk in the woods

Saturday we wanted to get out so we headed west and ended up on Battle Road in Lexington.  We had a great tromp in the woods and made some interesting discoveries but did forget the snow pants and boots so came home a bit wet and muddy.  All the signs of a good adventure.  Especially when you end it with hot chocolate.

Bathing brothers

The black hole of leaving the house

Last week we were on our way to church and moving toward the door in relatively good time when I spy Mr. 1 going for my full cup of tea on the table.  I ran in slow motion from the kitchen to the dining room arriving just in time to also get covered in tea.  The whole cup spilled on Mr. 1, me, the chair, the floor.   It was still on the warm side but luckily not hot so no trips to the ER.  It did require new clothes for him and for me and a lot of cleaning up.  So we were late.  Wouldn't want to shock anyone by being on time.

Negotiation tactics

"I'm not going to shoot them."  Mr. 3 tells me from the doorway holding a bag of marshmallows.  "I'm just going to eat them."

Oh, is that make eating them okay?  No, actually no.

Good intentions and real life

David is away this week so I'm the parent on-duty.  Yesterday started out a little rough (there was lots of yelling on both sides as we made our way through school) but we had friends over in the afternoon and everyone seemed to recover their good attitudes.  The boys were great hosts and even happily helped clean up once our friends had headed home.  We actually had the house all cleaned up before bed and squeezed in a game of Tsuro.  Mr. 1 had gotten up at 5:30am and the last boy was finally in bed at 9:15pm.  It was a long day and I really wanted to start today on the right foot so I headed to bed even though it was quiet and I had a good book to read.

This morning I was up early again with Mr. 1 but with a clean diaper and a song he was back in bed and I actually had time for a long hot shower and a quiet cup of coffee.  The boys began drifting out at 7am - beginning as always with Mr. 8 who somehow claims to wake up between 6:59 and 7:01 every day.  I'm pretty sure I heard him on the stairs first at 6:45 but he stayed downstairs and quiet until 7am which is just what I had asked.  From then until 8am when Mr. 3 headed off to school, it was crazy getting everyone dressed and ready for their day, Mr. 3's lunch made, breakfast.  When I came back in from walking Mr. 3 out to the car, the house seemed relatively under control.  The older boys are trying to solve the puzzle in The Eleventh Hour by Graham Base (they loved Enigma and The Legend of the Golden Snail as well - anything with a code or a puzzle) and eventually I had to confiscate the book or we wouldn't have gotten anything else done.  We started school and all was well until we started reading aloud and I realized Mr. 1 was a bit smelly.  Okay, more than a bit.

I let the boys continue building a train track for Mr. 1 and tried to change him off to the side but he was not pleased about being taken away from the trains and our quick change created a mess that took 45 minutes, a bath, new clothes, and scrubbing the carpet to completely clean-up.  So plans changed and we didn't manage to finish our reading.  Or get to our science experiment as somehow the Dinoscope has disappeared (they were using it with the Raspberry Pi and thought they remembered just where they had left it but it is now completely missing which derailed science after we'd finally gotten back to school).

So nothing goes as planned but we manage to get in what we can.  Math, a little history, some writing, a short discussion on light and interference.  Mr. 8 and Mr. 10 both have been history projects in the works - Mr. 10 is drawing the troop movements during six of the battles of the Civil War and he has great plans to make a video using models to explain the battles and Mr. 8 is drawing a map of the country during the Civil War with the sites of important events.  So we'll try to get some work done on those today.  As well as catching up with our Journey North project.  There are other things on the schedule but with a one year old you get done what you can and I'm trying to be okay with that.