Week in the Life {Girls' Night, Bird Study, Beautiful Moments}

Sunday, July 26th

Sunday we went back to worship for the first time since the end of February.  It is a very small, intimate congregation that we're worshiping with up here and feels very safe.  It was beautiful to be back.  We had leftovers for lunch, and then while Evie napped we had all the kids take a quiet time.  After a relaxing afternoon, I headed to meet some friends for an outdoor visit and had a great time catching up with them.

Combined we have 21 children and are all in various stages of our homeschooling adventures, so we had a lot to chat about.  We'd all treated ourselves to the fast food to go of our choosing before meeting at the park to eat while we visited.
We were even pretty responsible and didn't stay out *too* late!

Monday, July 27th
Mike worked crazy hours this week to finish up a dorm before the athletes came back to campus, so he went in at 6 a.m.

When I put Evie down for morning nap, the other 4 kids and I sat down to our bird unit.  We have been so excited to do this unit, but similarly excited about the freedom of summer, so we haven't focused on it as much as we could have.  We're going to get to it the next couple weeks and enjoy learning about our backyard friends!
Monday morning we drew songbirds and played bird/egg match in pairs.  Print the beautiful matching game for free HERE.

While the girls used the drawing book, the boys played memory.

Then, we switched.

Zayden got intimidated, so we traced his song thrush, and then he drew the cardinal with some help.  He wanted his birds to be kissing.

I have committed to attempting the art projects for this unit with the kids....here's my little song thrush.

When Mike was mowing this weekend he found a blue jay feather AND he stopped to collect it for us!  He's such a thoughtful husband and daddy and so enjoys being invested in what we are learning.

Our hymn focus for the unit is His Eye is on the Sparrow.  Here's Zayden working on the chorus with his sweet voice.

After lunch, the children played pretty nicely together for the afternoon, and then when Mike got home they got in the pool.  It is so nice to feel like there's still "day" left when Mike gets home from work.  The kids ate their spaghetti poolside before getting back in to splash some more before showers and bedtime.  Lots of water time sure does make them sleep well!

Tuesday, July 28th

We got right to our bird unit during Ev's morning nap again and had a wonderful time.  The older two kids worked on researching the wingspan of the birds in our backyard.  The younger two measured the "wingspans" of our family members.

They wrote down their information so that they could graph it later.

We read Birds Make Nests and Because of an Acorn and then worked on drawing swirly bird's nests with oil pastels.  After we got our nests just right, we cut out eggs to put in them.

The kids caught on to the fact that some birds lay their eggs in other birds' nests and took that information to allow them to put different colored eggs in their nests.  Creative license.

Zayden stuck with robin's eggs for his nest!

So did mom.

I sent the kids out to construct a bird's nest (see the theme of the day?....nests and habitats), and when Mike got home he went out to help them.

They put their nest made of grass, mud, sticks, and a recycled paper bag in a tree in case any birds want to use it.
(Also, see the little two?  They've been best of friends lately and like to match.)

Evie and I played on the floor between lunch and her afternoon nap.  I actually got most of the book Wild Wings read while she climbed over me, toddled around me, and played beside me.  The big kids are reading it to go with our bird unit and I wanted to read it before them.  It was SO good - highly recommend!

Then Evalynn decided not to take that offered nap and we were ready for Daddy to get home!

When Mike got home, he took the all the kids outside and I made homemade pizza in blissful silence.  He played soccer with the older ones, and then let Evalynn totter around.  Supper was late because I should have started earlier (ha) but everyone showered and ate in PJs.

Wednesday, July 29th

I had made a batch of sticky buns with the pizza Tuesday night and let the kids have them for breakfast Wednesday morning.  Big treat!  After a few chores, we jumped into our bird study.  

We were going to play egg/bird matching with our Bee Bot, but the teacher forgot to charge him, so that had to wait.  We played memory instead, and then we painted black trees to add fingerprint birds to later.  

Then, we wrote haikus, each child choosing their own bird.  The big kids wrote their own.  The younger ones told me attributes of their chosen bird and I helped them shape those thoughts into the proper syllabication for a haiku.  They all enjoyed the haiku writing a lot - I had introduced haikus to them the day before and we wrote one together on the board and I told them to think about theirs throughout the evening and come to "class" prepared today.  Everyone, even our 4 year old, had an idea in mind about what they wanted in their poem.
Our fingerprint bird pictures!

The big kids went ahead and graphed their bird wing span information, while the younger ones finished copying their haikus into their bird journals.

After clean up, the kids played together in the play area and I caught up with a couple ladies who needed some advice regarding new homeschooling.  We had a quick lunch of leftover pizza (hoo-rah for leftovers), and then Natalee and I headed out for a physical therapy evaluation to start up services up here in our new area.  We LOVED the therapist and the center and are SO excited for all they have to offer Natalee and her quality of life.

We have been doing quiet time several days a week during Evie's afternoon nap.  If we have device time that day, this is often when they play a quiet game, but many times they read books, rest/nap, draw quietly, etc.  It's been really good for them to have that time separate from each other, and really good for mom's brain to just get a little noiseless downtime.

I got another late start on supper (le sigh) so we didn't eat until almost 8.  The big kids were a help with Ev while Mike was in and out getting the battery replaced on our caravan (always something).  They all declared the breaded tenderloins worth the wait, though, and Evie liked the cooked carrots and mac and cheese.

Speaking of Evie - she turned 11 months on Wednesday!!!

Her 11 month stats: HERE.

Thursday, July 30th

I started my morning out with the birds and the kids filtered out and in, watching with me.  Our efforts were not in vain.  We listened to the cardinals sing, heard a blue jay call, and got to see a pair of woodpeckers and a pair of mourning doves.

Almost camouflaged against the concrete.

After breakfast and morning routine, we got started on our bird unit.  We began by drawing favorite birds to mail to a family member.

I guess I forgot to take a picture of Xavier's.  He drew a lovely mourning dove.

Mia wore her bird skirt for study today!

Bee Bot was charged and we had a great time exercising him and our brains with some coding this morning.  I played a bird call on my phone and the kids had to guess the call, then code Bee Bot to go first to the bird's card, then to the matching nest and eggs.

The kids took their binoculars back outside to inspect our trees for any birds' nests, but they didn't find any.  Since they were already outside, I served them lunch out there!  

The afternoon was quiet and pretty chill - we ran a couple of errands and then tried to enjoy our evening together, even though Daddy had to stay at work late.  He did join us for supper and a bike ride and then went back until almost midnight. 

I got everyone showered and in PJs.  While we were doing the routine, this sweetie helped me fold numerous loads of laundry.

This girl thought she was helping, but I'm not exactly sure what her plan was.

Friday, July 31st 

Oh my, Evalynn did not have a great day.  When one child is struggling in such a way, it's hard to not let it set the tone for the entire house.  We did not do bird study, because Evie didn't take her good nap.  Or any naps so to speak.

The kids did take turns observing the birds in the backyard, but they mostly played hard!

The younger two set up a floor is lava course in the basement.  They are the cutest.

Evie did surprise us with a new stunt...

She was in the living room (facing the couch) and used the playpen rods to climb onto the couch.  Oh goody - she climbs.  Ha.  She did this twice, and then once I caught her with one leg up on the fireplace.  I don't even really want to think about that.

Mike did come home for lunch, but worked late, so we went to the playground to change the scenery and stop ourselves from watching the clock all evening.

This little girl is a full fledged toddler and walked all over the playground.

It was a beautiful evening - not too hot with a nice breeze, and we were the only family there so we had the run of the place and didn't have to worry about staying distanced.

Mia and Zayden played floor is lava at the playground, too, and then all 4 bigger ones played hide and seek and races.

Evie has such sweet older siblings.  She's also a very brave little 11 month old.

We came home and I made tacos while Evie ate black beans and mangoes.  I was hoping Daddy would be home to clean her up, but no luck!  I sent him this message, but he still had work to do, so I washed her up - and her high chair and the floor.  She's in charge of quality control and makes big messes to make sure the daily cleaning gets done.

Mike got home to eat a hot supper.  He's had such a hard week.  Back to school is a busy time always, but add in pandemic schooling and it's been a bit insufferable.  Supper was late-ish since we'd been at the park, so it was pretty much showers and bed after we ate.

Saturday, August 1st

We have managed to make it to another month.  Hello, August.  Hello, back to school month for the college.  For the first time, I'll be here to watch the campus "come alive."  The Beelers won't be going back to school officially just yet - but we're exited when it's time!

Saturday morning we did our weekly chores and did a good tidy in excited anticipation of Grandma Num coming.  Grandma babysat the sweets while Mike and I slipped away to share a beautiful afternoon with Duane and Deanna (aka bride and groom). Their ceremony was lovely and they treated their guests to a delicious meal before we departed.

We got to see a lot of friends from years gone past.  It was no nice to see so many faces we love so dearly.
Miguel, Duane (the groom), and Mike

We went to Dollar Tree to get a few things for school and because Grandma was on duty all night and we weren't ready to go home yet.  Ha!  We would have gone to other stores, too, but, alas, everything closes at 8:30 or 9:00 - still running on pandemic hours.

In a lot of ways, this week was a challenge, but there was beauty in it, too.  Sometimes we just had to look a little harder, among the messy schedules and long work hours, to find it.