It has been a busy stretch! I feel like I am still kind of mentally in "school mode," in which time is a very scarce resource, so I feel like I have to do all the things while I can and I pack my days to the gills. (I have even printed out an hourly planning sheet for each week so that I can plan what to do in every time block.) I don't mind it, though - I have gotten a lot done, and have not squandered my free time as much as I typically tend to do.
A couple weeks back, we spent the day at the Amish, since it was Strawberry Week. (Strawberry season is so short!) We drove there (and navigated extensive road work in Kansas City), did our shopping and visiting, drove home (navigating the same road work again), made Sabbath dinner, and then I processed all fifteen quarts of strawberries for the freezer. It was a busy day, but I am SO excited to have all those berries on hand.
We have spent a lot of time driving back and forth from the brush site, hauling compost for a garden bed I'm putting in along the outside of our fence in the side yard. Once I got my pretty raised bed from Austin all planted, it was kind of a "If you give a mouse a cookie" situation, and I felt the need for more space. Our fence doesn't incorporate all of our backyard, so we have an unfenced section of our yard on either side of the house. It's just kind of awkward, unused space, and one side is entirely south-facing, which is perfect for a garden. So since it doesn't take up valuable play space for the kids, and isn't being used for anything else, I figured I'd grow some food there. BUT I didn't want to spend money, so I decided on a raised bed a la Charles Dowding.
Here is All The Rock I moved. We still have a giant pile in the front to figure out what to do with, but I'm glad this section is done.
The boards are up temporarily and will likely come down once the bed establishes itself. Or I will end up finalizing it with something prettier than this. Either way, it will end up looking better than it does now. But it is functional, and it's tucked away from street view, so I'm not too worried. I have strawberries, raspberries, zinnias, pole beans, bush beans, cucumbers, carrots, beets, okra, watermelon and spaghetti squash in here, and I think I'm going to tuck a couple more tomatoes in there at the very end. (Have I told you before that I'm an incurable plant crowder? I always tuck way more into a bed than I should.)
We've also been spending a ton of time with our church family, having friends over for dinner and hang outs, as well as spending days at the park as an encouragement/reward for those kiddos in our congregation that are keeping up with Same Page Summer, the Bible read-through we're all going through. A friend celebrated her fortieth birthday, and her husband threw a big surprise party for her. We had our monthly Psalm Sing, and had our weekly after-church fellowship meal at a nearby park. Our neighbors in the military are getting ready to move, so we watched their kids a couple of days to keep them out from underfoot of the packers. Their son celebrated his seventh birthday and had a driveway pizza party that we attended. (Best birthday party idea ever.) And in addition, Atticus has had a lot of mowing jobs for friends, which gives me the opportunity to hang out and chat with gals (and even let the other kids play in the sprinkler!) while he mows.
Birthday party. Have I told you before how much I love our neighborhood?
My friend Courtney came to hang out one morning.
This is Oey's new favorite face.
It has been a fun and busy and social time.
I have also been working on transitioning out of the last school year and prepping for the upcoming year. I have made our schedule, ordered our books, and have started working on portfolios. I didn't have time to really make this transition well last summer, and there were definitely consequences of the lack of planning that were felt all year. I'm hoping to avoid that this year.
In the meantime, after a two week break from all school work, the kids are now back to doing some reading and math each day. A couple of them have fallen behind in math, and a couple need to boost their reading skills before the expectations and rigors of next year. They're also all doing the Bible read-through. (Penelope has taken it upon herself to make sure all the girls are hearing it on audio each day, Atticus is working through his readings independently, and Finneas has been reading out loud to Rocco.) So they have plenty to keep them busy. Penelope has also been reading like a maniac now that she doesn't have any assigned books. This is what she had finished as of earlier this week, and has finished more since then.
And finally, our December babies celebrated their half-birthdays. First, Atticus turned fourteen and a half. Whoa.
And then Ophelia turned eighteen months.
She is headed in to toddlerhood strong. She has mastered the complaints, "Ow!" "Hey!" and "Stop!" ("Bop!") and plays them on repeat. She doesn't say Mama, she still refuses to walk, but by gum she knows how to tell you to get out of her face and leave her alone. Eighth-born, amiright? This week we're working on dropping her morning nap and consolidating her daytime sleep into a single afternoon nap. I've been dreading it since she dearly loves to sleep, but she has been pretty tolerant as long as we have something to do to keep her busy and engaged. So we have spent our mornings at places like Home Depot, our friends' sprinkler, and today we're headed to Walmart to pick up swimwear for the older kids, since swimming lessons start next week.
This afternoon, I need to remember to take their "Last Day of School" photos (whoops, dropped the ball on that one), and I'm thinking about doing "exit interviews" for the school year - "What were your favorite books this year? Least favorite? What are you most proud of? What would you like to have gone differently? What do you hope to change next year? What are you msot excited for?" Etc. etc. We'll see if I can discipline myself to stay inside long enough to do it.
Phew! It has clearly been a full stretch, but we're getting a lot done, having a lot of fun, and thoroughly enjoying ourselves. GOD BLESS SUMMER BREAK!
1 comment :
amen. God bless summer break!
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