Yesterday was our "Free Day". As long as everyone has completed thier school lessons on Monday and Tuesday, we all get Wedneday off. So far this is working out well, because it is the one day of the week that we don't have to actually BE anywhere else. I ended up spending most of the day in the kitchen, cleaning and cooking. Don't get me wrong, I actually LIKE doing this, it is relaxing to me. The kids played outside ALL day until after dark, only coming in for food and drink. Jackson received some sort of right of passage by being permitted to carve his name (yeah, we let him use a pocket knife) into a special board on the large wooden jungle gym (lovingly referred to by the kids as "Old Woody") in our back yard. He was so excited when he came inside to tell me the news that he was to carve his name and age into the board...."Austin was only 11 and Savannah was only 9 when they carved thier names!!!! Egads! That's like 50 years has elapsed in kid time!
Thomasina came over and had Vegetable lasagna with us for dinner. We laughed until our sides hurt watching Cheaper By The Dozen. Once again I was reminded of how fast my oldest is growing up. Thom had asked me something about growing lawn grass, and I was in the process of spilling out my entire 3 sentences of knowledge on the subject, when Austin walks by her, and says , in a husky, loud-enough-for-me-to-hear-it voice, "All lies....she's been drinking".
It was back to the grind stone today. I think that Chemistry is going well for Austin, and his handwriting is really improving as well. We are taking a few weeks away from Latin, while we wait for our DVD's to arrive. We are hoping that this will help us to get more out of our Latin study. He really loves Latin. All three kids are doing well in Spanish, too. I better get on the ball with it, or they will be taking about me, and I won't know what they are saying! Jack is doing SOooo well in math, and Savannah is finishing up a book on Mammals, complete with drawings and diagrams of course.
This afternoon had it's challenges. We MUST leave the house by 3:30 at the VERY lateset on Thursday in order to get everyone to their lessons on time. Well, at 2:30, I was unexpectedly sucked into what I call " wardrobe madness". This always strikes at the worst time. This is a time when I decide that somewhere, in my closet, hidden among all of my same old clothes, there is an absolutely stunning outfit that is just waiting to be put together. This is absolute insanity. I try on scores of clothing. "These pants with this shirt?"" No, how about this blouse with it?" "A sweater? " "What about these shoes?"-"I never wear these." I always end up leaving the house wearing the same old jeans and sweater combo that I always wear, but my room is now a disaster area! Why does this happen to me?? And WHY do I keep hanging those clothes back in there!? In the middle of "wardrobe madness" Savannah couldn't find her ballet tights. Austin couldn't find his martial arts shirt, and while I thought that Jack was getting ready to go, I entered the living room to find him doing flips across the sofa. I barked out commands to Jack ,rounded up the tights, never found the shirt, grabbed martial arts belts, ballet shoes, got Savannah's hair placed properly on her head, literally threw everyone a snack bar on the way out the door, and we were off! I had a list of things to do in between the picking up and dropping off, but I didn't manage to get even ONE of them done. We ate dinner out (argh!, I am TRYING not to do that), and got back home at 8:30. Race called, the shower curtain fell down on Savannah, and Jack came flying down the stairs screaming, "Mom, the toilet is overflowing, the toilet is overflowing!!!!" Which, it was. This all happened in the space of about 5 minutes. I hung up with Race, fixed the toilet, cleaned up the mess, and replaced the shower curtain. Everyone helped pick up the house a bit. One of Jack's friends from Martial Arts class gave him a Redwall movie (from the book series by Brian Jaques, of which all three of my kids are HUGE fans). The kids all went to the basement to watch. And all is well. The sink is still full of dishes, and there is still a lot of laundry to do,( don't forget about the aftermath from "wardrobe madness") and I am sure that Race has long since gone to bed, but all is well.
We are ready to have Dad (Race) back home. Even if it is just for a few days, it is such a comfort. It is the nature of his job, to have to be away from home a lot, so we will take what we can get. We are really, really proud of him.
Well, let's see, Savannah has art homework (timed sketching, using contour), and ballet homework (French terms).
The boys have Martial arts homework. They have to choose 3 things that they would like to make a habit, to improve themselves. They have to develop the SELF discipline to do these things EVERY day for a month, and keep track of it on a calandar.
Austin:
1. Read my Bible.
2. Work out
3. Work on 1 baseball skill.
Jackson:
1. Clean my room.
2. Walk my dog, Scout.
3. do push-ups.
They chose these things by themselves, and I will try to post about it at the end of the month to see how they have done with these new habits, and the desire to improve themselves. Good stuff.
Tomorrow is Friday, Race is coming home!
Cheers,
Melissa
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