the weekly 'what's up.'

We kicked off last weekend with a trip to the Compassion Experience, a traveling exhibit-thing organized by Compassion International and hosted by one of the churches in town.  Basically, it's a simulation experience that allows you to 'see' the living conditions and hear the stories of a couple of children sponsored through Compassion.  We 'experienced' the life of Carlos, a kiddo in Guatemala.

She was a dead-ringer for Carlos.  Minus the headphones and smart device.

Monday, Callista turned three months old (and yesterday she rolled from back to tummy for the first time!).  It was full of ups and downs for her.  Aging is emotional for all of us.

Tuesday, Atticus had a dentist appointment.  His third of six, to be exact.  The first appointment, they cleaned his teeth and did xrays.  Then they had me come in for a second appointment to discuss the results of the xrays and the plan to move forward.  The third appointment was to put sealants on his teeth.  The fourth, fifth, and sixth appointments are to deal with each of three cavities individually.  I AM LOSING MY MIND.  This can't possibly be the most efficient way of going about this. 

I just start doing the math in my head: six visits per kid, times five kids with teeth, every six months... plus well child checks, and vision appointments, and speech therapy appointments, and orthodontist appointments... and trying to find sitters for many of those appointments to avoid the chaos that is taking them all to confined spaces... and trying to actually get other important stuff done, like school... This has the potential to send my stress levels through the roof at some point.  So look forward to hearing about that in the near future.

Wednesday, the kids discovered a spider that had caught a live fly in mid-air.  It somehow captured it and dragged it up the string while we all watched.  It was pretty gross.

Other than those items of note, this week has been pretty low-key.  We've been on break from school, so the kids have had ample free time, which has actually been really good for them.  (Oftentimes their break weeks are spent fighting with each other, since their time is so unstructured, but this week hasn't been too bad!  I wonder if it's because we're also on a TV hiatus - they seem to entertain themselves better when the option for watching Netflix has been taken off the table.)  They've spent the time reading, working through Art for Kids Hub drawing tutorials, and building God-knows-what out of scrap wood.

I looked out the window the other day and saw two of the kids in the yard, jousting each other with janky old pieces of castoff lumber, and it hit me - hard - that we are the rednecks of the neighborhood.  Let me clarify that: Here in Missouri, we are rednecks by comparison.  Let that sink in for a second.  That's some pretty harsh reality to have to face on a Friday morning.