But let me back up and do the blogging that should have been done before then.
April 23 is St. George's Day, which we lowkey celebrate with dragon-shaped cookies. Penelope made them (mostly) by herself this year! Unfortunately, April 23 was also the day that I needed to stay home from church with Penelope, who was feeling under the weather. So the cookies were devoured at church without us. But the whole double batch was gobbled up, so I guess they were a hit!
The rest of the week was full of the best kind of mundanity: school, crafts, playing outside, and a tea party hosted by Lolo.
Okay, that last one was far from mundane. Laurelai loves hosting tea parties for the kids. She baked peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, set the table with a tablecloth and the pretty dishes, got dressed up and did her hair. We made everyone chai lattes and they sat and chatted while they ate. It was so sweet. Lolo lives for stuff like this.
Thursday night after Todd got off work, we loaded up in the car to head up to Iowa. We spent Friday playing outside, and Friday evening we had a cookout and a party to celebrate Juni's birthday from a few weeks back.
She got this cool drawing tablet for her birthday, which means she and Callista have been palling around pretty closely. Oh, sister dynamics.
Saturday was PENELOPE'S THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY! A week or two ago, she and stayed up late for a girls' night after the other kids went to bed. We watched the fourth Harry Potter movie and ate popcorn and M&Ms and really rang in this new stage of life as a teenager. She is so fun to hang out with. She is quick-witted and kind and thoughtful and articulate and well-read. She is interested in many things, so she's interesting to talk to. She is pretty and modest and disciplined in her Bible reading - she is about to finish the To the Word Bible read through, which goes through the entire Bible in about nine months. She loves singing and writing songs, and has been using the Cantus Christi to figure out how to play our congregational hymns. She adores dogs, and knows pretty much everything about them. (As Atticus said, "I think Penelope knows more about dogs than dogs know about dogs.") I am excited for her teen years, to get to watch her grow and deepen, and develop her unique set of interests, skills and knowledge as she grows into a young lady!
We celebrated her on Saturday with a Harry Potter-themed party and a summery lunch of grilled burgers and fruit salad (her request). Then we headed back home in the afternoon.
On the trip home, Juni started complaining of a headache and saying that her eyes hurt. By the time we got home, her eyes were doing that bizarre pink eye thing that some of the other kids' have done over the last few weeks - both eyes were red, itching, and just pouring weird green goo. Hers got so bad her eyes started swelling shut. I kept her home from church the next morning, but by then it was pretty much over. It had lasted like twelve hours and then was done. So weird.
This week we kept plugging away at school. We are so close to the end. I want to be finished by the end of May, but we have enough work to take us into the first week of June. I'm hoping to be able to cram it all in so we don't have to go that long, but we'll see if that's doable or not.
Wednesday afternoons are set aside for Laura Ingalls books. Callista gets to stay up from nap to join us for our read alouds.
This week I would like to draw your attention to Rocco, who turned seven-and-a-half and aged into a miniature doppelganger of Todd.
And last but not least, here is a photo of all eight kids watching a movie together, which is so adorable I could die.
Whew! And that was a flyover of our week!
1 comment :
i'm glad Penelope gets to have you as her mom. can't wait to see what kind of fruit growing up with you as a model produces in our little ladies.
Post a Comment