what's up weekly.

Happy last Friday of February!  Spring is so close, I can smell it.

Look at these girls, enjoying the weather and wearing their new matching overalls.  (Or, "trousers," as they call them for some reason.)  They bought them with their Christmas gift money and have worn them almost every day since they got them.  Lolo was wearing hers when a neighbor kid knocked her off her roller skates, and she was heartbroken when they ripped.  Luckily, Target has a one-year warranty on their kids' clothes, so I took them back the other night and new ones are in the mail.  

Valentine's Day took place since the last time I posted, so I'll cover it here.  It is increasingly becoming one of my favorite holidays.  It is so nice to have something so cheerful and fun to break up February.  I left the decorations up for over a week.

I got all the kids small gifts.

And made heart-shaped waffles for breakfast.

Knox didn't get the memo about the spirit of the season.

An upside-down soggy heart waffle (that he thought was gross) seemed to sum up his feelings perfectly.

At least one of us cheered up when I revealed his Valentine's Day-themed mafia boss sweatsuit.  (Hint: it wasn't Knox.)

Oey got a notepad with a fancy pen.

Juni got a heart-shaped mug

Callista got new slippers.

Rocco got a watch.

Lolo got a jewelry organizer.

Finneas got a sleeping mat for the floor since he thinks he's too old and cool to share a bunk bed "with a bunch of other guys."  (His brothers.)

Penelope also got a jewelry organizer.

Atticus got a cover for the backseat of his car.

Knox finally came around to the joys of Valentine's Day.  See, buddy?  Isn't it good to be loved?

We had a cheeseboard and chocolate covered strawberries for dinner.

And we watched The Princess Bride and ate popcorn for dessert.

The next morning, I dressed the kids in Valentiney outfits for church, and the boys gave the girls flowers.

Later in the week, Todd drove Atticus to Lawrence to take his driving test.  He's taken it a couple of times here in town, but I was starting to suspect that it might be wise for us to try our luck at a different DMV.  Maybe my gut was right on that, or maybe he really had improved that much, or maybe the third time is the charm, but whatever the case, he PASSED!  He is now a licensed driver.  What a nerve-wracking stage of parenting.

Todd took him to Culver's for lunch to celebrate.

Everyone was so excited for him!

And other photos of note from the week:

This week we've been busy plugging away at our last week of school before break.  We will wrap up our last week of the term today and then take a week off.  I'm hoping for good weather to do some yard work, and I'm going to try to get the younger girls' room painted.  Spring is coming, and my creativity is starting to wake up a little bit!  I have all kinds of grand ideas for the things I'm going to attempt soon, so we'll see how much I actually accomplish, but I feel like yardwork and a single room painted are do-able goals, so wish me luck!

what's up weekly.

Hello, and happy My Sister's Birthday to all who celebrate!

This week was more full than last, so I at least have a few photos to share this time!

On Saturday, Todd took the boys to an airsoft war. 

The boys and their friend Willie

Atticus

The whole crew

Now, that's a little intimidating.

Now, that's a LOT intimidating.  (Rocco)

Atticus messed up his wrist somehow while he was out there, so he's been babying it all week.

On Monday, I mixed up a big new batch of fire cider, set to be ready in March.  (Just in time for the seasons to change and for people to not have such a demand for immune boosters, but oh well.)

On Tuesday, we skipped school so I could get the house ready for a bridal shower I was hosting.  (Or, as Juni called it, "A brutal shower.  I mean, a battle shower.")  I had spent all day on Saturday cleaning, but you know how life with kids goes: nothing was still clean by Tuesday.  But it was fine - we got to skip school, the house got all clean again, and the bridal shower was so fun.  And we got to eat dinner in the garage to keep the dining room clean beforehand!

Look!  It's clean for once!  After everyone left, it still looked about the same.  Atticus said, "Leave it up to a group of moms to get together for a party and leave it cleaner than they found it."

Ladies of all ages were invited, so it was a full house of adults and kids!

After the party was over and the boys were no longer pariahs, the teenagers (and Rocco) gathered in the kitchen to talk.

On Wednesday, I went to the library sale, and some local school library had just donated a bunch of discards to the sale, and I had a heyday.  I got hardback copies of the Little House books, and The Island of the Blue Dolphins, and The Hobbit, and Death Comes for the Archbishop, and Huckleberry Finn.  I got Pippi Longstocking, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Winnie the Pooh, and Stuart Little.  I got multiple books by Beverly Cleary and Roald Dahl.  I got a few Encyclopedia Brown books.  I got Caps for Sale, and Miss Rumphius, and The Little House, and Make Way for Ducklings.  I got Sarah, Plain and Tall, and the Incredible Journey, and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, and Mr. Popper's Penguins, and The Borrowers, and Treasure Island (all hardbacks).  I got multiple classic American Girl books.  And do you know what I paid? TWELVE DOLLARS.  I've never used hard drugs, but I'm pretty sure this is the same feeling.  The only thing that put a damper on all the excitement was knowing that a school library was getting rid of all of this.

(Also, I got a coffee table book about Medieval needlepoint, but that's not the same kind of thing and obviously;wasn't part of the school library donation, it was just beautiful so I couldn't resist.  Also, did I tell you that last year at the library sale I found a first edition of Encyclopedia Brown, signed by the author, for 25 cents?  What a rush.)

Last night Todd fixed our tub faucet, which had been an issue for a while but the way our plumbing is, there wasn't any access to get to the problem.  Todd pulled it all apart yesterday, though, and fixed it and reassembled it, and now the faucet should stop pouring and the tub should theoretically stop growing mildew where the water kept standing.  It's always a good day when things work as they should!

Other than that, we've just been doing school and enjoying the beautiful weather this week - up in the 60's and 70's!

We finished Watership Down this week. (And Two Gentlemen of Verona last week.)

what's up weekly.

In crazy news, it turns out that we didn't take any photos last week.  Nary a one.  Not even a phone photo.  I'd apologize for the photoless post, but it won't be very long anyway, since the photolessness was itself caused by a lack of news worth sharing.  So I'll make it quick.

The biggest item of note is that Penelope worked three days this week.  She has been babysitting every so often for some families at church, and it weirdly worked out that she was needed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.  It works in her favor that she's homeschooled and therefore available during the day, she just has to figure out when to make up the work, which is possible but not always easy.  But she handled it really well and enjoyed having an unusual week.  I, on the other hand, had to get up in time to drive her to work.  I (mostly) jokingly told her that the sole reason I stay at home and raise my own kids is so I don't have to freeze my butt off and navigate commute traffic at 7:30 a.m.  I didn't sign on for having to drive to work ever again, but somehow I found myself doing just that.

Atticus, on the other hand, hasn't worked for a few weeks.  He spends most Saturdays working as a kind of farmhand, but it has been so horribly and dangerously cold the last few weeks that he hasn't had to go out.  This weekend is supposed to be nicer, but I think his employer encouraged him to take another week off so Atticus can participate in an airsoft war that will be happening.  I'm not sure what he's decided about that, though.

I was hoping to check out an antique store last Saturday, but again, it was really too cold to venture out so I stayed home and cleaned my room.  Fun times.

Today is my monthly grocery shopping day, so once I get read-alouds done this morning, I'll head out.  We are basically completely out of food - I'm not sure if the kids are eating more lately, or if I just somehow bought less than usual last month, but it really feels like we are scraping the bottom of the barrel.  (For lunch a couple days this week, I ate a fried egg wrapped in a pita.  The kids looked at me like I was eating dog food from a can.)  So we'll see how this shopping trip goes- it may end up being pretty large, even for us.  Then I'll pick up Culver's for lunch (I bribe myself with Culver's to keep from impulse buying a bunch of snacks while I shop), and then hopefully I'll have time and energy to do science lab with Finneas in the afternoon.

And that's that!  See.  Very little news to share, other than the fact that I'm going to need to provision next month's ship a little better if I don't want the crew to mutiny.  Such is the life of a ship's captain.