'what's up' weekly.

This past week has been filled with a lot of 'normal,' which I love.  We did school and are now two full weeks in.  Why that feels like a major feat accomplished, I don't know.  But it does, and I'm not complaining.

On Monday, I took the kids to a nearby creek with a friend.  Can you believe this is smack-dab in the middle of downtown?  I'm not kidding.

On Tuesday, we had our first Connection Group meetup of the Fall semester.  We're not hosting it in our home this year, so it felt a little strange to just go to Connection Group.  I think this is really going to make a big difference in my stress level this year; I'm already glad it's worked out this way.

On Wednesday, we headed up to the Amish as usual.  One of the gals that I've gotten to know asked me if I could bring her a few things 'from town' next week.  What does an Amish person need from Walmart, you ask?  Forty pounds of sugar and a pack of brown pipe cleaners.  Obviously.

Yesterday was our anniversary, so a couple friends came over to watch the kids so we could go out.  For being somewhat of a landmark anniversary, we played it really low-key: we went, with Callista, to Red Lobster.  We weren't able to do anything more exciting because we have a nursing baby and are broke because: six kids.  But I kind of loved rejoicing in our semi-boring anniversary date, because it was a reminder of the amazing things keeping us tethered close to home in this season.

Today is Friday, glorious Friday.  Which means bird study, painting, listening to classical music and (hopefully) napping.  It's also the night we order food in, so I don't have to prep, cook or clean up the kitchen in the evening.  Fridays are good days around here.

And other than that, the only major news is that Todd has suddenly developed an excruciating toothache, and the dentist can't get him in until the 28th.  So we're praying hard there is a cancellation so he can get in sooner, and that he's able to stay ahead of the pain until then; or that his tooth just miraculously stops hurting.


And, unrelatedly, in reading news:

In school this week, we read Big Claus and Little Claus in our Hans Christian Anderson anthology.  It is a dark and weird and hilarious story that we're still trying to mentally process.

I finished O Pioneers! by Willa Cather, and The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis.  I've started Surprised by Joy and a book about healing a Diastasis Recti.

And Finneas discovered Robin Hood:

And that was our week!